


Strange Trails

by rivlee



Category: Band of Brothers, Generation Kill, The Pacific - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, F/F, Families of Choice, M/M, Other, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 21:06:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10727244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: When their car breaks down just outside of St. Therese, Louisiana, Babe, Bill, Julian, and Spina, go on a bit of an adventure. Featuring far too many dated pop culture references, a bit of rural fantasy, and a dash of Southern Gothic.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> All my love to @ama who supported me so much throughout this fic, made the beautiful artwork which you can see [here](http://warriorgays.tumblr.com/tagged/strange-trails), and was kind enough to give insight and edits. She's seriously the fic MVP here. To Nat and Kay who always listened to me when I messaged them with, "why do I do this to myself." To everyone who offered support and liked the random snippets posted on tumblr: thank you so very much.

“We’re going to die out here.”

No words should ever be spoken so sincerely through a mouth full of beef jerky. Babe Heffron took his eyes off the road for just a second to give his best friend, Bill Guarnere, a look that said all he couldn’t since he respected their two friends in the backseat trying to sleep. 

“What?” Bill asked. “The moon is full; we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere; and I swear to god I can hear wolves howling.”

“I don’t think there are any wolves in Louisiana,” Babe said. 

A bright light shone from the backseat. “Survey says red wolves are possible,” John Julian said. “Bill’s probably hearing coyotes though.”

“It’s a fucking wolf,” Bill insisted.

“I don’t care what it is, just shut the fuck up so I can sleep,” Ralph Spina said. 

Three voices started yelling at each other, drowning out the sound of the suddenly sputtering engine. Babe tried to wave at them to shut up, but in the dark all he could do was slap Bill upside the head. 

“Everyone shut the fuck up so I can pull over. The car’s about to die.”

Blessed silence reigned in the car for only a full minute. 

“This is how horror movies start,” Bill said. 

“Why do you need us to shut the fuck up so you can pull over?” Julian asked. 

“You know Babe can’t multitask,” Spina said.   
Before heading off on this Road Trip from the Ninth level of Hell, Babe had promised Mrs. Guarnere he wouldn’t get her baby boy killed. He had sworn to Fran he wouldn’t let her future husband die before the wedding. He had vowed to the Spinas and the Julians that no one would get arrested _this_ time. Babe kept his eyes on the bit of road he could see, his hands on the steering wheel, and absolutely did not turn around to punch both of the assholes in the back seat. 

Bill was suspiciously quiet next to him.

“Just say it,” Babe growled.

“Spina’s got a point,” Bill said.

Babe flipped him off. “I hope the wolves eat you first.”

“I’m telling your mother you said that,” Bill said.

Babe just put the car in park and got out. He went over to Bill’s side, pulled the door open, and dug in the glove compartment for the flashlight.

“I could’ve gotten that for you,” Bill said.

“I didn’t want to interrupt your comedy hour,” Babe said. He closed Bill’s door. “Stay in the car.” He turned to the back seat. “All of you.”

Babe was not getting killed by their various grandmothers because he let the boys get eaten by coyotes or swamp foxes or whatever the hell was out there. He was going to be a responsible fucking adult and try to fix whatever was wrong, or, in the absence of that, call Triple-A for some roadside assistance. 

He shivered as he stood there, trying to calm his nerves, and not think about how bad this could go. They were out in the middle of the swamp, pulled onto a dirt section of a narrow two-way road, with no signs of civilization for miles. It felt preternaturally dark outside; still in a way that couldn’t be normal, the only light around the bright moon, and the only sound coming from all the animals in the swamp. 

Babe took a deep breath and popped the hood. He coughed as he got a mouth full of smoke. The frogs in the swamp sounded louder in Babe’s ears as he pulled his t-shirt up to cover his mouth and tried to pull in some fresh air. 

“Wouldn’t it be funny if the frogs started going _Ichabod_?” Julian asked. 

“Jesus Christ,” Babe choked out. He pulled Julian away from the car and shook his head at the smoke. They were screwed. 

Julian held out a bottle of water. “So you don’t die, unlike our car.”

Babe gulped down water while Julian looked at something on his phone. He was still tapping out his next magnum opus when Babe emptied the rest of the bottle on to the engine. 

“There’s supposed to be a Waffle House three miles from here,” Julian said.

“I could go for some hash browns,” Spina yelled from the car. 

“It’s the middle of the night and we have no fucking clue where we are,” Babe said.

“We’re three miles from the nearest Waffle House,” Julian said. 

Babe honestly didn’t have an argument for why they shouldn’t, at least, try to find food. 

“Have you tried to call for a tow?” he asked Julian. 

Julian shook his head. “I can Google just fine, but every time I try to call someone it drops. Same for Bill and Spina.”

Babe took out his phone and couldn’t even find a signal. He resigned himself to his fate. 

“So, three miles away?” he asked. “East, West? What direction?”

Julian’s face looked extra pale in the glare of his phone’s screen light. He frowned and squinted and finally gave a shrug. “East I think? I’m guessing the blue on here is water.”

“Good guess, Einstein,” Bill yelled. 

Babe just shook his head and looked to the stars for answer. He got nothing back.

“I guess we’re going to the Waffle House,” he said. “Grab any shit you might need to make it through the night and let’s go.”

**************

“Sure, let’s just take a walk in the woods. In the middle of the night. In a swamp. A swamp full of wolves. Let’s look out for any cabins made out of candy,” Bill muttered.

“You’re not fucking helping,” Babe said. He held his phone up and tried to get the stupid compass app to work. “Figure out which one is the North Star or some shit.”

“Do I look like a boy scout?” Bill asked. 

Babe just shook his head and tried not to think just how very badly all this could go in an instant. At the very least he needed Bill to find his fucking calm in case shit went south. “Bill, please. Shut the fuck up before Julian tries to decide which one of us is going to be eaten first.”

“Spina, obviously,” Julian said 

“What the fuck?” Spina asked.

“You thick, bro,” Julian said. He patted Spina’s stomach. “Thick and fluffy. It’s cute, but we’d definitely have to pick you first. Totally for survival’s sake only, nothing personal.”

Spina slid behind Bill. “I told you we should’ve never let him do that project on the Donner Party.”

“We were nine,” Bill said. 

“The argument stands,” Spina said. 

“And I was only seven,” Julian said.

“Told you those child geniuses always turn out wrong,” Bill said with a shove to Julian’s shoulder.

“Fuck you,” Julian sang. 

“We’re two miles from Julian’s supposed Waffle House,” Babe said. “Can we just play the Silent Game until we get there?”

“What if I fall into a pit of quicksand?” Julian asked. “What if we come across Rodents of Unusual Size? What if there are fire pits? What if we have to abandon our beloved white horse in the middle of the Swamp of Sadness?”

Babe could feel a headache forming behind his right eye and he just knew it was named _Julian_. 

“Fine, we won’t play The Silent Game. Let’s just find this damn Waffle House, hope they have a phone that can call us a tow, and find a place to sleep for the night.”

“Hell of a vacation,” Spina said. “Bill just had to get a road trip instead of a bachelor party.”

Babe didn’t want to start another argument, so he didn’t voice his agreement, but he knew Bill knew by the hard shove to his shoulder.

“What if Babe gets pushed into the swamp and chewed on by a gator?” Julian asked. 

Babe’s rant was cut off by the howling of the not-a-wolf-damn-it.

“Anyone want to walk faster?” Spina asked. Babe recognized that tone of voice; approximately ten seconds until a Spina Meltdown. “Let’s walk faster.”

Babe jumped as a hand slid into his own. Julian smiled down at him. “Find your buddy, right?”

Babe knew his glare was ruined by the dark, but he still felt the situation called for it. “There’s something seriously wrong with you.” 

“Love you too, bro,” Julian said. He held up their hands to pat Babe on the head. “I promise I won’t let the monsters in the dark eat you.”

And that was John Julian in a nutshell: always the youngest and always trying to front as the bravest to keep up with the older kids.

“Thanks, Jules,” Babe said, knowing that even if it was a joke, Julian really meant it. 

He could feel Julian’s smile against his forehead. “Anytime, Babe.”


	2. One

“Full moon,” Renee Gossa said, voice barely above a whisper. 

Anna, her wife, looked up from the pile of dried herbs in front of her and glanced toward the small kitchen window. The sun was just starting to set, but she could already feel the pull of the moon. 

Out here, they all could.

Not everyone was a wolf or a descendant of the first loup-garou to inhabit the swamp; some of them came from a long line of healers, others the spell-casters, and most of them had a magical mixture in their make-up. They were all guardians though; raised from birth to protect this land that had been theirs for over two hundred years. 

Some of them, like Anna, had been here for over a century. She was one of the most trusted guardians of the land around them. The trees, the air, and the earth embraced her as one of their own. Renee had never seen anything as beautiful as Anna giving herself over to the forces around them. She still remembered being a young woman, stumbling through the countryside of America after surviving the war that tore through her hometown in Belgium, and falling right into Anna’s arms. 

Anna had been cradled in the arms of twisted tree roots, only waking up when they’d warned her about Renee’s fall. Anna had taken her home; had bathed her hands in magnolia oil, had kissed them and called them a gift, and had taken Renee to Bernadette Roux to be tutored by the local house of traiteurs. 

Ann had introduced her to the Sheltons, a long line of loup-garous, dating back to the flight from Acadia. A member of each generation bore the mark of the transformed, eyes that turned red on the full moon and yellow during the new, and she’d learned to heal the wounds they acquired prowling the bayou at night to keep the town of St. Therese safe. 

Renee had been here for seventy years now and had taken her own place as a healer, training Bernadette’s grandson, Gene. She’d treated the skinned knees and ripped paws of Merriell, the current youngest Shelton loup-garou. She’d gone down to Baton Rouge and married Anna as soon as they legally could, with magically enchanted government papers adjusting their ages and citizenship. And she’d learned just what it meant when the Moon’s pull felt so strong.

St. Therese had withstood hurricanes and floods and politicians trying to take it out. In the 1950s, when it became clear some state senators wanted to wipe out their town to make way for some tourist trap, Anna, Bernadette, and the other leaders bound together to hide St. Therese from any passer-by with malice or greed or ill manner in their heart. All they’d see was the remnants of where a small town once stood, decaying and being reclaimed by the trees and swamps around it. 

St. Therese became a figment, a legend, a memory, and a ghost town. The only thing of note was a Waffle House seemingly in the middle of nowhere; one last glimpse of civilization before the roads turned to dirt and the cell phone towers disappeared. Outside of those people making long commutes from jobs in the cities to family homes in the country, no strangers just wandered on through. 

Except for those nights when the Moon decided it was time to open its borders for new citizens. 

“Better get the guest beds ready,” she said.

“Better get some whiskey to calm Merriell,” Anna said.

**************

Gene Roe had grown used to nights like this; ones where the air felt too thick and the moon was too bright and the noise too loud to sleep. He stared at his ceiling just long enough to know no matter how many times he tried to watch the ceiling fan spin or count the sheep in his head or try to track the Wisps darting past his window, he wasn’t getting back to sleep.

All signs pointed to him needing to be awake. The Wisps outside were glowing a vibrant green as they pulsed and faded and danced towards the road.

“What you up to?” he asked as he got out of bed. He wandered over to his window and leaned against the sill. He swore he could hear laughter out there, but it was too hard to tell if it was human or supernatural, so Gene just let it be.

He learned at a young age there were some things you just didn’t question. 

A thump and a growl came from deeper in the house. Gene spared another glance through the window, up at the bright moon, and shook his head. 

He stumbled towards the kitchen and looked in the dark corners, wondering if he’d find a wolf or a man or the one caught in-between. 

“’Bout time you wandered back home. Caught the scent of something?”

Merriell Shelton was curled up in the corner, eyes blazing red, body human, and all kinds of unhappy. His gaze was trained on the large kitchen window, unwavering and so focused it would’ve scared a younger Gene. He knew now it was just Merriell doing his job, but as a boy he never quite got why his friend had bones that twisted and fur that sprouted off his skin and fangs that filled his mouth. He never got why Merriell had to bleed to protect them all. He later learned they all had their price to pay; that it was part honor, part respect, and part duty. 

“Outsiders,” Merriell growled. He shifted in his seat, a casual sprawl to most, but Gene could see the tense muscles in his legs ready to pounce. 

When it came to threats, Merriell always responded with a fight. 

Gene leaned over and gripped the back of his neck, blocking his view of the window, until Merriell finally took a deep breath and relaxed. His nostrils were still flared, his head tilted slightly to side, obviously listening to the group of strangers trampling through their yard outside. 

“Invading our territory,” Merriell said in a voice more human than wolf. 

“I know,” Gene said. He kept his words soft and steady. “Moon’s playing her tricks tonight. It’s about time some new folks stumbled our way. They don’t bring harm with them.”

“Can’t know that,” Merriell said. His eyes were clearer now, his lips twisting in a sarcastic smile rather than a defensive snarl. “They could be a group of serial killers.”

Gene couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “I suppose I’ll be expecting you to avenge me after you get all weepy over my corpse then.” He let go of Merriell’s neck and stood. “Go on and sleep a spell. I’ll handle ‘em.”

Merriell shook his head. “Don’t like you out there on your own.”

Gene dipped down to press a kiss to the top of Merriell’s head. “I’ll be fine, pup.”

“Ain’t your dog,” Merriell said with a swat to Gene’s ass.

Gene laughed. “Yeah, you something though.”

He waited until Merriell finally gave in, slinking off to bed with a last few looks over his shoulder. Gene turned back to the window, looked at the house across the way and the bit of street he could see from here. It looked like it was his turn to play town ambassador as Anna and Renee’s home still stood dark. 

Gene’s gift, like Miss Renee’s, came with healing. It always cost a part of him to do so, but he’d gladly give up a little of his breath and blood and a heartbeat or two if it meant someone got to live on. Unlike Miss Renee, Gene got a bit of the Sight too. Miss Anna always said it was because the Wisps trailed after Gene like lost puppies, giving him glimpses of all the possible futures as they skittered across his skin. He’d seen them and played with them for as long as he could remember, always thought the little balls of light were nothing but big fireflies until he learned the truth. Nobody could spend that long around the Wisps and not take part of them away. 

So Gene had a sense for people. He couldn’t tell how many had just wandered past their borders, or where they came from, or if they intended to stay, but the fact they’d gotten this close showed they were no threat. 

There was something else this time though, something different—something he could almost taste in the air, and it drove him outside more than any bit of curiosity or caution rattling about his brain. He _had_ to meet their guests.

**************

“Our car’s dead. None of us can get a signal on our phones--”

“--Verizon’s lied to us all,” Julian said. 

“—and this looks like a ghost town. Not a tourist trap, but an actual fucking ghost town, Babe,” Bill said. “I don’t want to fucking die in the middle of nowhere Louisiana. We’re going to drown in a swamp. Or get eaten by Big Foot.”

“No Big Foot ‘round here,” a voice drawled from behind them.

“Fucking hell!” Spina yelled, while Babe yelped and Julian jumped into Bill’s arms. 

“What the fuck are you doing standing there in the dark?” Babe asked. Screamed, really. He could admit it, he screamed. 

The man slipped out of the shadows of a doorway into the greenish-yellow light coming from the one lamp post in the entire town. 

“It’s the Rodents of Unusual Size you’ve got to worry about,” he said. He tapped a finger to his mouth. “Look out for the nutrias.” 

“Are you fucking with me?” Babe asked. 

A soft laugh was his only answer at first. Pale bare feet stood out stark against the packed dirt of the ground. They led to legs encased in worn sweat pants and a faded _Ragin’ Cajun_ t-shirt. The guy’s face was stoic, eyes almost black as he shrugged and said, “Well, not yet.”

“Jesus, that fucker’s kind of smooth,” Spina murmured.

Babe had been told on many an occasion that he didn’t know how to shut the hell up. He’d actually been gagged by his brothers more times than he could count and Bill himself was a fan of shoving food into Babe’s mouth to get him to keep quiet. Right then, at that very moment, he couldn’t have formed a word if Julian’s life depended on it.

“You boys lost?” the man asked. 

“Just looking for the Waffle House,” Babe said, only a little embarrassed by how rough his own voice sounded. 

“Go down Main Street and take a left. Can’t miss it. Tell ‘em Gene sent you.”

“Main Street?” Bill asked. 

Gene, apparently, pointed to the paved road in front of them. Babe blinked a few times in a row. He could’ve sworn there had been nothing but dirt roads stretched out before them. 

“It’s hard to miss,” Gene said. 

Babe blinked again and focused his gaze to the faint glowing yellow sign of the Waffle House. The night seemed brighter than it had been only a minute before.

“What the hell is going on?” Spina asked. He reached over and pinched Julian, ignoring the spew of curses from his mouth. “Nah, we’re awake. Maybe it’s just sleep deprivation.”

“Or maybe it’s magic,” Gene said, a slight upturn to his lips. He regarded them all with a tilt of his head. “On second thought, might be best if I escort you boys. You look dead on your feet. Wouldn’t want you to bother Ron with you standing there gaping at him like fish. Man’s got a bit of mean streak in him.”

Babe didn’t understand at least three sentences he’d just heard, but none of his instincts were telling him to flee. And he couldn’t deny that he was pretty fucking hungry with nothing in his stomach save Julian’s mystery truck stop jerky. 

“Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly,” Bill whispered.

“Now that just ain’t nice,” Gene said as he led them down the road, still barefoot and obviously amused. “I ain’t never had a venomous bite. Now Merriell, he’s the one you’ve got to watch out for.”

“I’m so confused,” Julian said.

“Why don’t you try looking something up on that phone that’s permanently attached to your hand?” Spina asked. 

“Found us a Waffle House didn’t I?” Julian asked. 

“What I still don’t understand is how,” Bill said. He held out his phone. “I still can’t get anything.”

“Cell towers are tricky out here,” Gene said. “The only work for a few bodies. We’ll get you a landline if you need one.”

“Our car died,” Babe said. “A couple miles,” he turned around, unsure of which way they’d come. “A couple miles somewhere out there.”

Gene laughed, a soft thing that made him dip his head. “Yeah, that happens more often than you’d think.” He stopped at the door to the restaurant. “I’ll leave you boys here. Ron’s a stickler for that ‘No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service,’ thing. Tell him to give me a call when you’re done. We’ll find a place for you to bed down.”

“Oh, that’s not--” Babe said.

Gene held up a hand up. “There ain’t no place to stay around here. No tow is going to come get you ‘til morning, if that. Ron certainly ain’t going to let you loiter in his place of business. Wouldn’t be the first time we opened our doors to some lost souls.”

“We could be serial killers,” Bill said.

Gene’s eyes traveled over them. “I’ve got a hell of a watch dog.”


	3. Two

Gene left them at the Waffle House parking lot with a promise to meet up again once he had the proper footwear. Bill and Spina exchanged a glance before they both shrugged and pushed through the door. Julian followed after them, but Babe lingered outside. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head, because it looked like green and blue lights were flittering around the door handle.

“Get it together, Heffron,” he muttered to himself and went inside.

There was nothing unique about this particular Waffle House in the middle of nowhere. Like all others it smelled of old grease and burnt cheap coffee. The laminated menus were stuck with syrup, marmalade, and/or something else Babe didn’t want to think about. The counter was occupied by a young man, hunched over and devouring a sad looking piece of pie. Tom Jones’ _What’s New Pussycat_ played softly in the background. A waitress sat at one of the empty booths refilling salt shakers. It could’ve been any Waffle House in any corner of the country, and yet something about it made the hair of the back of Babe’s neck stand up. 

He kept quiet as they crowded around a too small table and the waitress, Stella, brought them a round of coffee before she went back to her work. He let the debates over pancakes or waffles for a midnight snack fade into white noise as he surveyed the restaurant once again. Gene pushed through the door, the bell on top buzzing like an electric doorbell rather than the expected jingling sound, and walked in, a pair of _Scooby Doo_ slippers on his feet. 

No one appeared bothered by any of this; from the odd sounding bell that Babe swore didn’t make that sound when he entered, to the cartoon characters slippers, to the music that was somehow _still_ on Tom Jones.

“I think we’ve entered the _Twilight Zone_ ,” Babe said.

Bill laughed next to him. “At least the coffee’s good.”

Gene pulled a chair up next to their table, exchanging a brief smile with Babe before turning his attention to Julian and whatever was on his phone. 

A man came out from the back, plates of food balanced on his arms, and one of the most judgmental frowns Babe had ever seen gracing a person’s face. He was headed straight towards their table.

“But we didn’t order anything yet,” Babe said.

Gene caught his eye and shrugged. “Ron’s got a talent for knowing what people want.”

“But…” Babe trailed off and just tilted his head towards the empty grill. He was pretty sure he had wanted hash browns just fifteen minutes ago. The grill wasn’t sizzling with starchy goodness and none of those plates had hash browns on them. 

Ron approached their table with all the warmth of a yeti. He didn’t say anything as he dropped their dishes down and turned his back, only pausing a moment to smack Gene on the back of the head as he passed. 

“He’s the chatty type,” Julian said.

“He’s just one of his kind,” Gene said. “Eat up, boys. I’m going to have a word with Stella over there and then show you where you can bed down tonight.”

Babe remembered the stories his great-grandparents used to tell them about never eating the food of the Fair Folk. He didn’t think they’d exactly stumbled through a fairy ring into an alternate universe, and if they did he was truly in awe of the marketing prowess and reach of Cocoa-Cola products, but it was already too late to refuse the food. 

Julian looked like a chipmunk with his cheeks full of hash browns. 

“What?” he asked with a full mouth. 

Babe rolled his eyes and resigned himself to whatever fate his boys had dragged him into. “I’m the only civilized one of you assholes.”

Bill slapped him on the wrist. “You’re holding your fork wrong, Prince Edward.”

**************

A whole second round of pancakes and three cups of coffee later, Babe still felt itchy, twitchy, and just plain uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat and tried not to scratch the back of his head where it felt like eyes were boring into him.

“You got ants in your pants or something?” Bill asked. He turned and glared at Spina. “Thought you said you left the itching powder at home.”

“Wasn’t me,” Spina said around a mouth of pancake. 

“There’s nothing in my--” Babe stopped himself as he looked at the vultures he called friends, eager to pounce on the obvious joke. “I just feel like somebody’s watching me.”

Julian immediately started humming Rockwell, even in the face of Spina’s pained, “Don’t.” 

Julian just laughed and scrolled through something on his phone. “I know why you’re feeling weird. I’ve been doing some research.”

“Yes, Professor?” Bill asked. 

Julian shrugged. “So, we’re in, like, a ghost town.”

Spina looked down at his food and frowned. “I’m pretty sure this is standard Waffle House fare with no added ectoplasm.”

“No, but like,” Julian said and held his phone out to the table. “This town doesn’t exist. A town _used_ to exist here, but it got wiped out a long-ass time ago by a hurricane.” He flipped to something else. “This is what Google Earth has for the main street we just walked down.”

Babe knew it was dark as hell outside, but he still knew that they’d walked past intact buildings, not the broken down cottages being reclaimed by nature on the screen in front of him. He felt a chill run down his spine. 

“What the actual fuck?” he asked. 

“Maybe it’s one of those secret cities set up by the government,” Bill said.

Babe rolled his eyes. “Not this again,” he muttered. 

“I watched a Netflix documentary on it,” Bill said. “So fuck you and pass the salt.”

“Isn’t there always a Waffle House though?” Spina asked. “At the end of the world, it’ll be Twinkies, cockroaches, and Waffle Houses.”

“And Cher,” Julian said. 

Babe didn’t even try to stop the volley of balled up napkins the others sent at Julian’s head. 

Gene passed by their table, a take-out bag in his hands and a _look_ for the mess of used napkins around Julian. “You boys about done? Don’t know if the kitchen’s got much left.”

There was a massive shoveling of good into various mouths before a vicious game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and then Bill ended up footing the bill and the others cleaned up their mess. Babe made sure to stack the dishes and push them towards the edge of the table for ease of clean-up. He waved as Stella graced him with a smile of gratitude. 

Babe gave one last look to the Waffle House as they walked out, the bells above sounding like sleigh bells this time, and met the unblinking gaze of the mysterious Ron. Babe swore he saw the dude’s eyes flash before the door banged shut behind him, pulled out of Babe’s hand by some invisible force. Babe looked around to ask if anyone had just seen that shit, only to meet Gene’s own steady gaze. 

“Amazing what a tired mind can come up with,” Gene said. 

“Yeah,” Babe agreed as he stumbled after everyone else. 

“Maybe it’s a social experiment,” Julian said as they walked down the main road. “Maybe that’s not really a tree. Maybe it’s like a camera and sound system that’s just camouflaged to look like a tree. Maybe this is _The Truman Show_.”

“Seriously, what the hell was in those pancakes?” Babe asked.

Gene remained silent as he led them down the dark streets, wind howling through the trees around them, and the chirping and chittering of the swamp providing its own music. They stopped at a house, moonlight glittering off the many windows. When Gene passed the first step, nothing happened. When Bill and Babe passed it, every single window flared with light, fading into the single flame of a candle. 

“What the fuck?” Bill asked. 

“Don’t you worry,” Gene said. “It’s a welcoming thing for strangers. Lights in the darkness and all that.” He pushed the door open and waved them inside. “Rude to keep the hosts waiting.”

“Pretty sure it’s rude to barge in on the hosts in the middle of the night,” Spina said. He pushed Julian, who pushed Babe, who pushed Bill forward and they all went stumbling over the threshold. 

“Gene, you brought me a heap of strangers! How thoughtful of you.”

Babe looked up to meet the amused face of a gorgeous woman. She held out her hand. “I am Anna, welcome to my home. You seek refuge?”

“Our car broke down,” Babe said as he worked his hand out from under Bill’s back and shook her hand. “Uh, sorry about our everything.”

Anna laughed and her eyes shifted to the windows before meeting Babe’s once again. “Yes, there is some mischief in the night. Come, let us find you a place to rest your heads.”

“We could be serial killers,” Spina said. “I’m all for Southern Hospitality and sh…stuff, but I’m concerned for your own safety here.”

Anna shook her head. “Could I not also be the serial killer, luring you into my home?” She turned to Gene. “What is that movie Merriell loves so much? The one with the writer?”

“ _Misery_ ,” Gene said.

“Yes,” Anna said. “For you all you know we could drug you in the night and break your ankles. We won’t, because I like to consider us good hosts, but in showing worry for our safety, perhaps you should show some concern for your own.”

Spina bowed his head, properly chastised and Julian laughed. “Dude, she so just Mom’d you.”

“Shut up, Jules,” Spina hissed. 

“Never,” Julian said.

Anna winked at Gene. “Feisty. Merriell must be over the moon.”

Gene shrugged and held open a door to their left. “Your room. Hope you don’t mind sharing a bed.”

“Better than sleeping in a car,” Bill said. 

Anna nodded in agreement. “Not good for the body. There’s blankets and pillows on the bed. I promise they’re clean. Get some rest, boys. Know you are safe in this house. We’ll see to your other problems after a good night’s sleep.” Her eyes switched briefly to Gene before coming back to Babe and the others. “For all of us. Bathroom’s through the side door in the room.”

**************

The guest room felt like a place out of time. They headboards were old, carved wood. Religious figures hung on the wall. There was an actual wash basin and pitcher by one of the windows. It smelled like lavender and vanilla and reminded Babe of his grandmother’s house. It wasn’t spacious in the least, with two beds, a shared nightstand, and a dresser taking up most of the floor space. There was no tv, no phone, or computer, or even a digital clock. If it wasn’t for the desk lamp on the nightstand, Babe would’ve wondered if the room even had electrical outlets.

“So how are we going to decide bed buddies?” Julian asked. 

“I call dibs on Spina,” Bill yelled. He threw his bag on the bed that had the Madonna and Child hanging above it. 

“When will Bill learn to love my pointy elbows?” Julian asked with a frown. 

Bill patted him on the back. “I don’t mind your elbows. It’s Babe’s cold feet I can’t stand.”

Babe flipped Bill off and sat his bag down by the other bed. He took the side closest to the window and toed out of his shoes, barely paying attention to the argument over who got the bathroom first. Bill would win. Bill always won; he had the argument of growing up with nine siblings on his side. Julian would be the last, forever punished as the sole single child among their friends. 

“I’ll go after Spina,” Babe said, deciding the final line-up even in the face of Julian’s pout. “Bill, go do your thing so we can all get some sleep.” 

“You’re being very bossy lately,” Bill said as he dug out his toiletry bag. “I don’t know if I like it.”

“Learned it from you, asshole,” Babe said. 

“Fuck you,” Bill said before he closed the bathroom door. 

The bed bounced as Julian sat down next to Babe. He leaned his head on Babe’s shoulder and sighed. “I think I ate too much. I’m ready to go to sleep right now.”

Babe patted Julian’s head and shared a smile with Spina who snapped a picture of them. 

“Don’t you have to plug your precious phone in?” Spina asked.

“Nah,” Julian said, eyes closed as he burrowed closer to Babe. “It’s charged.”

Spina frowned and leaned over the nightstand to look at Julian’s phone. “How is that possible? You’ve been on it all night.”

Julian gave an unconcerned shrug. “Maybe there’s some electrical charge in the air. It still works.”

“Twilight Zone,” Babe said. 

Spina’s brow wrinkled and he started to look as concerned as Babe felt earlier. There was something about this room that made Babe relax, but Spina looked like he was about to lose his calm.

“Where’d we put that mace Nona made us take?” he asked. “Just in case.”

“You’re going to mace Julian’s magical electrical field?” Babe asked.

“No,” Spina said, finally tugging off his jacket. “I just need it in case some kid comes into the room yelling ‘Red Rum.’”

Julian lifted his head up and frowned. “You can’t mace a possessed kid, Ralph.”

Spina rolled his eyes, but no one could fight off the power of a Julian frown for long. “Fine, I won’t mace the ghost. If it kills me though, I’m haunting all you assholes in my afterlife.”

Bill finally emerged, smelling of mint and with a wide smile. “Ain’t you boys sweet.” 

“Already took a picture for the scrapbook,” Spina said before he took his bathroom turn. 

Babe drowsed as he listened to Bill pull down the covers of his bed and get ready to sleep. 

“Anyone else thought we were staying with Gene?” Julian suddenly asked. “That’s what I thought he was leading up to when we met him. Seems kinda odd he’d dump us off on someone else. Do you think we pissed him off or something?”

“Maybe his house is too small,” Babe said. 

“Maybe his guard dog disagreed,” Bill said.


	4. Three

Bill’s words proved to be too fucking true when Babe woke up to the feel of heavy breathing on his neck. At first he wrote it off as Julian, but then he felt something sniff at him and Julian, for all his faults, respected some personal space. Babe opened his eyes to meet a heavy mass of canine on his chest and two red eyes staring him down.

He tried to yell, but no sound came out. It was pitch black dark in the room. Everyone else slept on, as if they couldn’t hear the growling of the wolf on top of Babe’s chest. Babe tried to move, to shove the beast off, but his hands went right through the fur. The wolf leaned closer, opened its mouth and gave a long lick down the bridge of Babe’s nose. Babe tried to get a hand on the creature again, the room suddenly filling with flickering green lights as Babe’s fingers finally made contact with fur. 

Babe flew awake with a gasp, drenched in sweat, and his ears full with the sound of an air-horn. He stumbled out of bed to the window and gaped at the rooster perched outside. The thing looked right at him, opened his mouth, and blared like an air-horn once again. 

“What the fuck is that?” Bill asked. He buried his head under his pillow and pulled the covers over his head. 

“I think that’s our alarm clock,” Spina said. He stumbled out of bed for the bathroom. Julian curled up into a tighter ball on their bed. Babe stood by the window, fingers clenched white around the window frame, and tried to get his body to stop shaking. 

“Where the fuck are we?” he asked. 

A soft knock filled the room before a blonde woman appeared, a blue band holding back her hair from her kind face. “Sorry to interrupt you, but I fear if you want to eat, you must come now. Merriell will be here soon and he has a beast of an appetite.” 

Her eyes widened as she met Babe’s own. She walked into the room, ignoring Spina’s bellow of surprise as he flew, half-naked, back into the bathroom. She placed both her hands over one of Babe’s own and immediately Babe could feel his heart rate start to slow down back to normal. 

“Who are you?” he asked. 

“Renee,” she said with a blinding smile. “I’m Anna’s wife. Come, let us get you something eat. You look in need of it. Let the others sleep.”

Babe was in a daze as he followed after Renee as she led him through the house, fingers wrapped loosely around his wrist. They passed a seemingly endless amount of rooms before they came to a bright kitchen. A large table dominated the middle of the space, where food was already piled high. Gene had one of the chairs. Some guy was sprawled out next to him, taking up three chairs with his body, and gesturing with a piece of bacon in his hand. He didn’t bother to stop talking or straighten up when Renee guided Babe into a chair, just gave Babe a wink and continued on with his story. 

Babe nearly jumped out of his skin when Gene touched his hand. 

“Sorry,” Gene said. “You just look…are you okay?”

Babe shook his head, but didn’t want to tell perfect strangers he’d had a hell of a nightmare. Babe could still taste the terror on his tongue. He swallowed and forced a weak smile on his face. 

“Rough night,” he said, not surprised by how hoarse his voice sounded. “Julian’s got some pointy elbows.”

“Must be,” the other guy said. “You look like you just get out a battle.”

“Merriell,” Gene hissed, kicking one of the chairs hard enough to make Merriell fall completely flat and lose his bacon. 

“Where your manners?” Merriell asked as he sat up. 

“Sunk down in the bayou with yours,” Gene said. 

The banter was soothing to Babe, familiar, like home. It was more centering than anything else he could grasp for right now. 

****

**************

Babe didn’t really know much about Anna or Renee, other than the fact that they were generous enough to open their home to strangers and feed them in the morning, but it was obvious they’d been together for a long time. They moved instinctively around each other, no words required, running their kitchen with ease. They shared glances and small smiles and brushed shoulders and hands in a way that spoke of a lifetime of dedication. It reminded Babe of his grandparents; the ones who had been married for sixty-two years and counting. It was a beautiful thing to see after the night he’d just had. Something about watching them both of them made him relax.

Babe let his shoulders drop and loosened his hold on his fork. He closed his eyes, took a slow, deep breath, and opened them again. He could still see blue and green swirls floating around by the windows, but that could’ve been from Babe looking too close at the early morning sun. He decided to look at the kitchen décor instead; he’d always loved glimpsing people’s kitchens. 

Nana Heffron pretty much lived in hers, always had something baking in the oven or brewing on the stove. Her breakfast nook had a comfy old chair and a basket full of yarn for her ever-going crochet projects. It always smelled like apples, cinnamon, and the chamomile tea she drank each day. 

The Spina kitchen had a whole shelf full of plants above the sink. Mr. Spina said it was the only way he’d ever remember to water them. There were always colorful drawings on the fridge thanks to the younger Spinas and a whole collection of plastic bags shoved in between the wall and the fridge. Someone’s school project was always spread out across the kitchen table, and Babe could never get a foot in the kitchen without Beaker, the Spina’s dog, running into his legs and begging for a treat. 

The Guarnere kitchen was always full of food. It had to be to support all the kids who came back home with friends or significant others in tow. Their fridge was covered with family photos, much like the entire house. Mr. Guarnere was always so damn proud to show off the tiny herb garden he’d managed to grow right outside on the fire escape. They had all kinds of kitschy kitchenware; from the cutting board shaped like Pennsylvania to the dinosaur ladles to the platypus tea infusers, their kitchen benefitted from Angie Guarnere’s job working for Bed, Bath, and Beyond in Cherry Hill. She always brought something home with her for weekly dinners and Ma Guarnere always proudly added it to her collection. 

The Julians had the fanciest kitchen of them all, with TVs in it and a fridge that talked to you and two ovens. When Babe was younger he always felt uncomfortable there among the granite countertops and the stainless steel appliances, so worried about getting his fingerprints on anything. He almost cried the time Julian dropped a whole pitcher of cherry Kool-Aid on the pristine white floor. It took years to get comfortable there, but now he had no problem hopping up on the fancy ass counters and passing ingredients from the cabinets above his head while Mr. Julian made his soups or Mrs. Julian worked on her amazing pasta sauce. 

Babe just—he liked kitchens. They reminded him of home and family and safe places. He didn’t know Anna or Renee, Gene, or Merriell, but something about this kitchen made him relax. It could’ve been the red sign near an old icebox-looking fridge that informed him that wicked chickens laid deviled eggs. It might’ve been the huge old water jug full of coins and labeled, _Merriell’s Swear Jar_. It could even be the fact that it all just felt so lived-in and time worn. This kitchen was the central part of this home and it was obviously loved. 

It made him relax enough to focus on other things—like the fact that fucking rooster was still going. 

Anna set a cup of tea down next to Babe’s plate. 

“Oh, I don’t--”

“Drink it,” she ordered. “It’ll make you feel better.”

The look on her face told Babe he wouldn’t get anywhere with arguing so he took a sip, tried not to gag at the bitter taste that always came with tea, and made himself not spit it out. 

“Weak,” Merriell said. 

Gene just shook his head and went back to his own plate. 

“Why does--” Babe coughed as the taste of the tea still lingered in his mouth. He coughed again and cleared his throat. “Why does the rooster sound like that?”

The air in the kitchen suddenly grew thick as all the other occupants stopped and exchanged a round of glances. Anna gave a nod and Gene took a deep breath. 

Before he could explain anything there was a loud bang, the sound of bodies slamming into walls and feet slapping on the floor, and a round of curses filled the house. Finally Julian’s head popped around the corner. He grinned at them and waved before slipping away.

“Found him!” Julian yelled. “I told you he wasn’t sacrificed to the primordial swamp gods!”

“Well,” Merriell said with a wicked and lazy smile as he picked up his mug. “Not yet, at least.”

“About that rooster?” Babe prompted again, trying desperately to ignore his friends. 

Merriell gave Gene a shove. “All his work.” 

“You trained him to sound like that? How? _Why_?”

Gene just smiled and shrugged as Merriell shook his head. 

“Pretty, but dumb,” Merriell said.

“Excuse me,” Babe said, trying desperately not to resort to the grade school level _I know you are but what am I?_ response. 

“Ignore him,” Gene said. 

“It’s what we all try to do until he comes pawing at the door,” Anna said. She slapped the back of Merriell’s head. “Keep that mouth shut.”

Merriell gave an over exaggerated pop of his jaw. 

The others finally stumbled into the room, in various states of dressed and alertness, and took whatever free chairs were around the table. Babe didn’t even flinch when Spina immediately dropped his head on Babe’s shoulder and stole his coffee. They were cool as long as he kept his greedy hands away from Babe’s bacon. Bill settled on his other side and stole his waffles and what was left of his tea. Julian took the empty seat next to Merriell, and ignored the actual growl that came when he swiped half of his blueberries.

“Jules, don’t steal shit off stranger’s plates, jesus fuck,” Spina tiredly said. 

Julian turned to Merriell, a mouth full of blueberries, and mumbled out a garbled, “Sorry.”

Merriell took his plate, his chair, and his entire body and shoved closer to Gene. 

Gene winked at Babe and they both tried to hold in their laughs as Julian continued to launch his own version of the War of Northern Aggression at the breakfast table. 

****

**************

Babe wasn’t always the best at reading people, but he had a feeling Anna and Renee were purposefully trying to keep them full of food and distracted by various activities. Any time he tried to get an answer to his rooster question, another tangent of conversation started. Every time he was about to remark on one of the many strange occurrences they’d experienced within the past twenty-four hours, more food was shoved on his plate. The one time he tried to talk to Bill about his hellish nightmare experience, one of the kitchen windows flew open and the bottle of syrup flew off the counter and crashed all over the floor. The last one wasn’t exactly their fault; Babe had just been a suspicious fuck since he was four and his older brothers tricked him into eating a dog biscuit.

He’d probably be more suspicious of all the shit going down right now, but none of them had died yet, so he’d let it go this time. Probably. 

Maybe. 

There was something about accepting the kindness of strangers or the milk of human kindness and all that shit he needed to remember. 

His suspicions aside, the Gossas had been unfailingly kind to them and while they refused to accept money as payment, the _very_ least they could do was help with some housework. Gene didn’t exactly look like he was built for moving furniture and Merriell looked like a strong wind could knock him to the ground. Bill and Spina were pretty damned sturdy though, and Babe had a long history and talent for cleaning kitchens. Julian? He was better at supervising. 

Julian held his place on top one of the counters, sipping a glass of sweet tea, and flipping through a stack of recipe books while Babe washed and dried the dishes. 

“Spell book,” Julian said when Babe asked what he was doing. “Or else they got some interesting names for food here. Granted my French is at the level of an under-performing preschooler. Still don’t think they make cakes to relieve stress.”

“Don’t all cakes relieve stress?” Babe asked. 

Julian nodded. “Fair point.”

“Besides, who keeps a spell book in the kitchen?” Babe asked. 

“Witches,” Julian said.

“Who keeps a spell book at all?” 

“Witches,” Julian said.

“It’s not like witches are even real.”

“Pretty sure they’re witches, bro,” Julian said. 

Babe whipped his dishtowel at Julian’s legs. “Jules, man, that’s not cool. Just because we’re in Louisiana doesn’t mean anyone has anything to do with magic.”

Julian shrugged. “Right, I get you, except I’m using my critical thinking and context clues here and I’m telling you: _I am pretty fucking certain they’re witches_.”

Babe rolled his eyes. “I’m taking that phone away from you and pulling you back into the real world.”

“My eyes are wide open,” Julian said. He hopped off the counter and stretched. “Since I don’t want all that red hair to go grey, I’ll ignore the obvious facts and just assume the book is a family heirloom that has absolutely nothing to do with the dried herbs hanging above us or all the weird shit that’s been going down.”

“Thank you,” Babe said. 

“No problem,” Julian said with a grin. He slid his phone into his pocket. “I’m going to go bother Bill and Spina now.”

Babe looked at the stack of dishes he still had to wash. “You’re lazy as hell, Jules.”

He absolutely did not throw a handful of dish soap bubbles at the finger guns Julian shot him as he ran out of the kitchen. 

****

**************

Babe had known Bill since they were in diapers. There were no secrets or mysteries left between the two of them. They’d seen and gone through the best and worst together. They’d been there through all the big and little things, from their first sleepover to the months-long quest of finding the perfect engagement ring for Fran. They were a friendship full of silent communication and unconditional love. Even with all those years of friendship and brotherhood, Babe had _never_ seen Bill as he did now, absolutely enchanted by a piece of furniture.

“Uh?” he asked. 

Bill held a hand up to shush him. 

Spina leaned into Babe. “He’s been like this for at least seven minutes.” He held up his arm and showed his ancient Mickey Mouse watch. “I’ve been timing it.”

Babe didn’t see anything enchanting about the room before them. It was decorated in a distinct Late-1970s style with wood paneling and orange shag carpet and a console television that took up half a wall.

“Uh, Bill?” he asked. 

Bill continued to stare at the console tv like it held the answers to the universe. 

“It’s so beautiful,” Bill whispered. 

“It’s so old,” Julian said. “Old as balls.”

“Shhh,” Bill said. He patted Julian’s cheek. “Shhh, child. Respect your elders.”

“It’s the bastard child of a tv and a dresser,” Julian said. 

“And it’s glorious,” Bill said. “It has a radio and a record player. This is a classic. I wonder if it works.”

“I’d ask before touching the ancient artifact of Days Gone By,” Julian said. “Pretty sure that shit should be in a museum.”

“You should be in a museum,” Bill shot back.

“I am a work of art,” Julian agreed. He walked over to Bill and tugged him back by the shoulder. “Come on. I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to be helping, like, weed a garden or a paint a fence or something.”

Bill’s whole body drooped as he nodded. 

“We can come back and let you commune with it later,” Babe promised. He just couldn’t stay silent in the face of Bill’s apparent desolation. 

Spina’s shoulders shook and Babe rolled his eyes as he saw the tears rolling down Spina’s face. At least he wasn’t _openly_ laughing at Bill. 

As Julian passed by the console set the entire thing lit up; a hum from the tv before the sound of static and the familiar black and white snow of a lost signal showed on the old screen. Then there was the screech of a radio tuner looking for a station before it finally settled on Elvis telling them about love and suspicious minds. The click of a record player trying and failing to connect needle to vinyl followed the cacophony of sounds as everyone in the room froze. 

“That’s weird, right?” Julian asked.

Bill looked absolutely reverent as he whispered, “It works.”

“I could’ve sworn that was unplugged,” Gene said. 

Everyone flinched and turned around to meet the curious tilt of his head. His eyes traveled over them, brow wrinkling in concern.

“You boys okay?” he asked. 

Babe let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Be honest. This house has gremlins, right?”

Gene shook his head. “Not exactly. We don’t like to feed Merriell after midnight, but that’s for a whole different set of reasons.” He frowned as he walked over to the tv and hit a switch turning it off. “Renee must’ve finally got it fixed.” He gestured at the walls. “She likes to do theme rooms.”

“I guess the antiquing game really has changed,” Julian joked. 

Something came over Gene’s face before he nodded. “Yeah, it’s not just stuff from the 1800s these days.” He gripped the back of his neck as he gave one last glance to the TV. “Anyway, Anna and Renee need some extra hands for the market. We got a big dinner to make for the town tonight. If y’all want to go with her, you can. I just need one of you to walk me out to your car. See if I might be able to fix it.”

“Dibs for the market,” Spina yelled, Julian and Bill’s hands flying up before Babe even had a chance to blink. 

Babe turned to Gene. “Guess it’s you and me then.”

If Babe punched Julian for humming _Can You Feel the Love Tonight_ softly under his breath, no one else had to know or see.


	5. Four

“That boy has a look about him,” Anna said as she watched Babe stumble off with their Gene.

“Merriell’s nighttime visit certainly didn’t help things,” Renee said. “We’re lucky his heart didn’t give out.”

Anna watched the way the sunlight glistened off Babe’s red hair; rusty and golden like off the old cypress trunks. He had to be weary--Merriell wasn’t exactly a cuddly pup in his another skin--but his body remained relaxed as he walked in perfect step with Gene, eyes darting from Gene’s face, to the trees around them, to the ground at their feet. 

“I think he’s made of tougher stuff,” she said. 

“The water chatters more when he walks by,” Renee said. “Not that we can understand what it says, but it’s certainly trying to talk with him.”

Anna nodded. It was obvious Babe was touched with something and clearly didn’t know. 

“He’s Awakening,” Merriell said as he joined them, half an apple in his mouth and no manners among their company. “The Wisps love him as much as they love Gene.”

Anna tapped Merriell on the back of the head. “Maybe don’t go scaring him off then.”

Merriell’s face was pure innocence as he said, “Just making introductions. I didn’t even draw blood.”

Renee laughed. “You didn’t exactly give him a cuddle either.” She looked over at their new group of strays. “And it’s not like he’s the only one waking up.”

“No,” Merriell agreed. “But he’s the only one making Gene’s scent change.”

It was Renee’s turn to tap Merriell. “Don’t go sniffing where you ought not to.”

“Gene don’t mind,” Merriell said.

“Babe might,” Renee said. 

“Haven’t given him a sniff,” Merriell argued. He held a hand over his heart. “Swear it. I just gave my greetings last night.”

Anna shook her head in exasperation. “You such a liar.”

Merriell shrugged. “If I caught a whiff by accident, it’s only in my nature.”

“You’re so full of shit,” Renee said sweetly. “Now quiet. Those new boys are finally ready to go.”

Merriell wrinkled his nose. “They reek of bug spray.” He gagged and threw his apple core into the compost bin. “This should be fun.”

Anna could only sigh in agreement. It was news when there was _one_ new arrival in St. Therese. Four strangers was sure to be an event. They’d be at the market for hours. 

She spared one last glance for Gene and Babe, smiling to herself at that familiar rush that came with seeing new connections form. She could already see it, swirling around them, the Wisps trailing behind them like little lost ducklings. 

“Could be dangerous,” she murmured to herself. 

“Always a risk with the heart,” Renee agreed. She slipped her hand into Anna’s own, pulling them up to press a kiss to where their fingers joined. “Worth it though.”

Anna squeezed their hands together as she remembered the young woman, looking so lost and so broken, stumbling into their town with blonde hair falling out from under her blue scarf and looking down at her hands, trying to get them clean. She had fallen into a small puddle of swamp water, babbling in French, and tears in her eyes. She remembered the first time she put those hands in her own, that feeling, that rush. Of cleaning them and anointing them and pressing kisses into them until Renee could breathe again, steady and clear. 

“Always worth it,” Anna agreed, bringing herself back to the present, and the soft, content smile on Renee’s face. 

****

**************

Gene appeared completely different in the daylight. Last night his dark hair had looked almost blue. Now out in the sun Babe could see how soft it was, with lighter brown streaks mixed in with the darker strands. His eyes were a clearer deep blue, though his skin just as pale. Babe didn’t know how Gene stayed so lily white, with the sun beating down on them and Gene’s obvious penchant for wearing footwear that barely counted as anything resembling shoes. Right now it was a pair of black, plastic flip flops; the kind you found in a bin at the dollar store. Babe wouldn’t have worn those things in a community shower, much less to take a hike out into the wilderness.

Though none of this was exactly the wilderness or the unknown for Gene. 

In the daylight Babe could see the tall bushes towering over them as they walked down the lone paved road. The old oak trees didn’t seem so intimidating and ominous when Babe could actually look up and see the sunlight through their leaves. Everything was so green and lush and alive around them. Babe wasn’t exactly expecting tumbleweeds rolling down abandoned streets this far into the countryside, but there was just _so_ much here. Even with the grouping of houses, the Waffle House, and a handful of businesses, it was obvious Mother Nature remained the ruling Queen. 

It was so different from Pennsport; it wasn’t quiet though. So many birds and frogs and who knew what else rustling through the trees and the swamp grass around them. He didn’t think it would ever be possible to feel alone out here with the constant whirl of activity. It just made the small town seem even more out of place, especially as they passed the old skeletons of homes and buildings reclaimed by nature. 

Though back home he’d probably have a dog or cat trailing after him, as opposed to the small brown pelican that’d been following them for the past ten minutes. 

“So how does a town that doesn’t exist get so populated?” he asked. 

“We figured if the government’s going to ignore us, we ain’t going to make much noise to get their attention.”

Babe liked to think he was a smooth motherfucker when he tried, but at the moment all he could think of was _Horton Hears a Who_. “How Whoville of you.”

Gene smirked and said, “We’re here! We’re here!” He shrugged as they walked on. “Word had it we were on the chopping block, picked to be intentionally flooded to take the stress off some of the levees closer to the city. I get it, you know, got to weigh the numbers and save as many lives as you can, but they always choose to flood us Cajuns out. So many farms ruined for the season.”

Babe looked around the swampy coast. “Farms?”

“Corn, rice, soybeans, sugarcane, strawberries, some sweet potatoes and tomatoes too,” Gene said. “Green gold, little bit further inland.” His smile was evil as he said, “Gator season is only in September. Got to make more money somehow.”

A comfortable silence settled between them as they walked. Occasionally their hands brushed or their arms slid by each other as they both seemed to lean into the other. Babe knew his face was burning from more than just the sun and he couldn’t believe how much he’d forgotten anything he’d ever known about flirting. 

Gene didn’t seem the kind of person who’d fall for a line anyway. Babe had a feeling he’d just get the most epic eye roll ever if he tried. It made him laugh to himself and he saw Gene smile at the sound. 

“So how do you get a name like Babe?” Gene asked. 

“I was the baby of the family for a solid six years and have assholes for older siblings.”

Gene laughed. “So ‘Babe’ just stuck. How’d you get your teachers to call you that?”

Babe shuddered as he remember the look Ms. Howell gave him the one time he tried to correct her about his name. “They called me Edward.”

Gene slapped a hand over his mouth, obviously trying to hide his laughter. 

Babe nudged him inside. “Just fucking laugh before you kill yourself.”

Gene did, for a long time, until he had to stop and clutch his side. “You don’t look like an ‘Edward,’” he said when he was finally done. 

“It’s a family name,” Babe said. 

“Couldn’t go by your middle name?” Gene asked.

“Do I look like a ‘Jimmy’ to you?” he asked.

Gene shook his head. “Babe’s the best choice, I suppose.”

“This is all I’m saying,” Babe agreed. He saw the pelican still behind them and patted his pockets to make sure one of the assholes he called friends hadn’t stuck food in there. He found nothing but a gum wrapper and a couple singles. 

Gene didn’t seem to notice or care about their aquatic friend. Babe wouldn’t either, probably, if Julian hadn’t shown him that freaky ass video of a pelican eating a pigeon before they left Philly. He knew, logically, they were both bigger than a pigeon and able to fight off one pelican. He wasn’t surprised if it had some friends luring around though and Babe didn’t want his obituary to read, _death by pissed off pelican_.

“Do you have like, bread in your pocket or something? Because that pelican’s been following us for at least five minutes.”

Gene didn’t even bother to look behind them. “That’s just Louie. Don’t mind him. He’ll waddle off to find some fish soon.”

Babe leaned closer to Gene and whispered, “He has a name?” He didn’t want to insult Louie.

Gene laughed at him. “Of course he has a name. Don’t worry, he won’t bite you. The others might, but Louie’s good people.”

“Bird people?” Babe asked.

Gene nodded. “Exactly.”

They finally came across the car, covered in dirt and mud all over the tires. Babe sucked in a breath when he realized just how close they’d come to the water’s edge. 

“Jesus, we’re lucky we didn’t drive right in,” he said.

“Seemed like you stopped just in time,” Gene agreed. 

“So, you’re a mechanic,” Babe said. He really didn’t know anything about Gene; which was normal considering they’d known each other for less than a day. Still it felt strange that he didn’t _already_ know everything about Gene. 

Gene shook his head. “He won’t be in town for another day or three, depends on which way the wind blows. I got a knack for fixing things. I can at least give it a look.”

Babe pulled out his keys and unlocked the car, popping the hood for Gene and the trunk for himself to get everyone’s bags. They all needed a change of clothes and Bill was already getting twitching without his word search book. 

“Pennsylvania,” Gene said as he kicked the front license plate. “Wondered where you boys where from.”

“Yeah,” Babe said. He tried not to stare at the ripple of muscle in Gene’s arms when he shoved the hood up. He tried even harder not to stare at his ass went he bent over to inspect the engine. He wasn’t successful on either attempt, but at least he wasn’t drooling. He slapped a hand over his mouth just to make sure and—nope—still good.

“What part?” Gene asked.

“What?” Babe asked.

Gene turned his head, a smudge of dirt already on one of his arms. “What part of Pennsylvania?”

“Philly,” Babe said. “South Philly. Julian was born in Jersey, but we try not to hold that against him.”

“So what brought you boys down here?” Gene asked. “Headed to New Orleans?”

Babe couldn’t even imagine the type of trouble they would’ve stumbled across in New Orleans. That was beyond tempting fate.

“Nah, we just went to see our friend Smokey in Biloxi and then decided to bother Bull and Johnny in Arkansas on our way back until we got stranded here.” Babe stopped at the look Gene gave him. “What?”

“Babe. Smokey. Bull.”

Babe grinned. “Want me to tell you about our favorite old married couple, Popeye and Shifty?”

Gene just shook his head and turned back to inspecting the car. Babe decided to stop torturing himself and grab the bags. He got distracted again, seeing something shiny and green whirling under the car, but when he crouched down to look there was nothing. 

Babe really need to schedule an appointment with his eye doctor when he got home. He grabbed his and Bill’s backpacks, old remnants from high school with faded white-out drawn symbols and black ink pen designs on the straps. Julian had a brand-new Flyers gear bag that his parents gave him before they left. It was everyone’s shared suitcase, being ridiculously large and the only one without any obvious wear, tear, or holes. Spina had proudly packed his Dora the Explorer backpack, a gift from his little sister years ago that she’d bought with her allowance money. Spina always wore it with his head held high and willing to sing the backpack song with anyone who stopped him. It was just big enough to contain a change of clothes and some emergency snacks. 

He closed the trunk, gave his old car a pat of encouragement, and went back to Gene. He certainly looked like he knew more about cars than Babe did. 

“So what’s the damage?” Babe asked. 

“An overworked engine in a POS Shit Box,” Gene said.

Babe felt his face drop in surprise. “Well, that was just fucking rude.” 

Gene smiled. “I ain’t never been paid to be nice.”

**************

Ray Person was the local mechanic--local in that he lived about three towns over and serviced the entire bayou, and was only in this particular town once or twice a week. Gene swore Ray was damn good at his job and a semi-MIA mechanic was better than nothing. No one was more surprised than Gene when they walked into Ray’s makeshift garage an actually found the man himself.

He told Babe it was an actual miracle that Ray was in the town at all. Apparently word got out that Anna and Renee were making a huge meal and he’d decided to drive down to St. Therese. 

Babe didn’t know how he felt about Ray. He was a wiry little fucker who whistled while he worked--the actual song, along with a hearty rendition of 'Heigh Ho'--and never stayed still. Babe still couldn't figure out if Ray's tattoos were actually moving across his skin as he worked or if it was just a trick of the eye because Babe was exhausted and Ray wouldn't stop dancing around.

Real, actual dancing. Babe saw him do the Electric Slide from the car to his tool bench and then breaking down into the butterfly before sliding below the under carriage.

Gene was in Ray’s office, barely visible through the dusty, cracked window, as he talked to someone on the landline, voice pitched low and speaking in something that sounded like French. Babe turned his attention to the garage. There were old, faded movies posters on the walls, a calendar dated June 2013, and various seating arrangements that looked like old car seats welded together. The vase full of irises by the window seemed out of place in a garage, a bright, soft spot between all the old concrete, chrome, and oil spots. They were also clearly real and alive which seemed strange for a business that was only open a day or two a week and not supposed to be occupied at _all _today. Still, the vase of fresh flowers made more sense than the poster of Tim Gunn staring down at him and ordering him to _Make It Work_. __

__“My husband wouldn’t let me have the one with the cat on the tree limb telling me to hang in there,” Ray said. He shook his head. “Fucking Brad. Like we’re too fucking good for clichés in this family. He proposed to me with a Ring Pop.”_ _

__“Do you like Ring Pops?” Babe asked._ _

__“Well yeah,” Ray said. “Just proves that disgustingly thoughtful and romantic gestures are fine if he does it, but when _I_ try to sneak off with one of the motivational posters from his teenage bedroom it’s ‘ridiculous.’” _ _

__“He had the cat poster in his teenage bedroom?” Babe asked._ _

__“He’s a funny guy,” Ray said. He collapsed next to Babe on the couch like they were old friends. “So you want the bad news or the really bad news?”_ _

__“Really bad,” Babe said with a wince._ _

__“Rip-off the Band-Aid kind of guy,” Ray said with a nod. “So, you’re going to be here for at least two weeks.”_ _

__“Two _weeks_?” Babe asked. Okay, yelled, he could admit he yelled loud enough for Gene to slam open the door to the office. _ _

__“We’re okay,” Ray said. He waved Gene back into the office. “Finish your phone call.”_ _

__Gene opted to sit on the other side of Babe._ _

__Ray tilted his head to the side and murmured, “Okay, it’s like that.” He cleared his throat. “So, yeah, two weeks, a week-and-a-half if we’re lucky. You might not have noticed it, but we’re in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere and even Amazon’s mightiest of warehouse doesn’t stock the parts we need to fix your engine. I’m good, I’m great, I am not a miracle worker.”_ _

__Babe could feel a cold swirl of panic in his gut. They’d get home in time for Bill’s wedding by the skin of their teeth._ _

__“Is there any way to get to an airport? How far is the nearest bus depot?” he asked. “We have a wedding to get too. Fran _will_ kills us if we keep her future husband from their wedding.”_ _

__Ray and Gene exchanged a look and they both frowned._ _

__“Oh no,” Babe said. He put his head in his hands._ _

__“There there,” Ray said with a pat to his shoulder. “It’s just—you could catch the bus to Houma. Then it’s like a four to five hour ride to Baton Rouge. I’m pretty sure you’d have to fly to Dallas or Atlanta or Boston, hell, maybe even Chicago to get a connecting flight to Philly.”_ _

__Babe did not whimper. Grown ass men did not whimper like lost puppies._ _

__“I could try to MacGyver something to get the engine running again,” Ray offered. “It wouldn’t get you that far though, certainly not even halfway to Philadelphia, and by that time your engine would probably be deader than dead. Not to mention the possibility of explosion-y death.”_ _

__“Ray,” Gene hissed._ _

__“What?” Ray asked. “He needs to know.”_ _

__“Right,” Babe said. He sat up and ran a hand over his face and gave himself a second to gain some composure and not scream _fuck_ at the top of his lungs. “So, two weeks?”_ _

__Ray nodded. “Week-and-a-half. I’ll get Brad to do his Iceman thing on our suppliers and might be able to cut it down to a week.”_ _

__“Thanks,” Babe said. “Can I use your phone? I still can’t get a signal out here and I definitely need to call back home. You can add the charges to my bill.”_ _

__Ray waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s kind of a community phone anyway.”_ _

__Babe stood up and stopped. “Wait, what was the bad news?”_ _

__Ray gestured him closer and Babe leaned in. “Do you know Gingers have no souls?” Ray asked._ _

__Babe busted out laughing, felt his whole body just snap and relax. He patted Ray on the head. “You’re a fucking asshole.”_ _

__“Thanks,” Ray said._ _

__Babe pretended not to notice that the tree tattooed on Ray’s arm suddenly sprouted green and blue flowers that weren’t there before._ _

____

**************

Fran, after yelling at him for about twenty minutes straight over not getting his car inspected before the road trip, was surprisingly okay, all things considered.

“You were already going to be gone for at least two weeks,” she said. 

“Right, but now it’s three weeks,” Babe said. 

Fran sighed. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you work for your family and your boss is so understanding.”

Babe winced. He was going to owe Lizzie two years of babysitting to make up for all the shifts she was covering at the restaurant, the bakery, and the corner store. 

“Look,” Fran said. “It’s not really your fault. Outside of Spina and his cake deliveries, none of you really drive that much. As long as you’re back by the rehearsal dinner that’s all I care about. I know Bill’s opinions on everything. All the other little stuff is being handled by the family, and I’d rather not waste our honeymoon money and your savings account on bus and plane tickets when you can just get the car fixed. So, stay in Louisiana, eat some gumbo for me, and tell Bill to call or FaceTime me when he gets a chance.”

Babe had always known Fran was amazing and full of compassion and honestly, forever the Topanga to Bill and Babe’s Corey and Shawn, but sometimes he forgot just how much he loved her too. 

“Thanks, Bumble,” he said into the phone.

“Welcome, Rudolph,” she said.


	6. Five

No one, least of all Anna and Renee, seemed surprised about the news they’d be here for a couple weeks.

“Who’s paranoid about packing all that extra underwear now?” Spina asked.

“We do have a washing machine,” Renee said. She gifted Spina with an intent look. “Please use it.”

“Will you boys be okay sharing the beds for that long?” Anna asked. “I’m sure we could borrow sleeping bags.”

“We’ll be fine,” Bill assured them. He was helping unpack the unending amount of tote bags. Every surface in the kitchen seemed to be covered in overwhelming bags and baskets of food. 

“Is the whole town really going to show up?” Babe asked.

“Dude,” Julian said. He handed over his phone with a ton of selfies taken with the locals, including grumpy Mr. Waffle House himself. “Apparently people are coming from the entire county.”

“Parish,” Anna corrected. 

“Parish,” Julian corrected himself with a nod. 

“It was our turn to host,” Anna said. 

“As long as we’re not causing trouble for you,” Spina said.

“Oh, you won’t,” Anna said with a sweet smile. “You’re staying here for free; you’re gonna earn your keep.” 

Anna shoved a bowl of potatoes and a peeler at Spina. Bill got another peeler and three handfuls of carrots. Babe got a bushel of corn to be cleaned.

Julian got pushed at the bags that still needed to be unloaded. 

“Something doesn’t seem fair here,” Babe said. 

“Shush your mouth and get to work,” Anna said. 

Renee laughed and winked at him. “At least she’s not making you clean any fish. We make Merriell do that.”

“He’s got the claws for it,” Anna said. She started digging huge pots and pans out of all the different cabinets in the kitchen and the pantry. 

“Don’t be afraid to snack,” Renee said as she helped Babe clean the corn. “The gumbo alone will take over three hours to make for each pot.”

“Each?” Babe asked.

“Each,” Renee said. “Couple of pots of chicken and sausage; couple of pots of seafood; probably have a fish fry in there too. Lots of mouths to feed.” She grabbed one of the apples from the dish on the table. “Snack,” she ordered. “And don’t throw out the corn husks. We always try to make some dolls out of them for the little kids.”

Babe saluted her and went back to his mountain of corn.

**************

They’d moved outside to help set up a whole stack of folding tables and chairs. It was the first time they’d all be left alone since last night. Babe smiled to himself at the familiar sounds of Spina and Bill giving each other shit and arguing about the perfect angle needed to set the tables up. Julian was laughing at them and taking as many pictures as he could, a pitcher of sweet tea at his feet that he’d claimed for his own and refused to share.  
Babe could feel the ache in his arms and legs from the walking this morning, the hauling around of luggage, the cleaning of all that damn corn, and just the general stress of the day. He decided to let himself have a rest and plopped down next to Julian on the back stairs. He was pleased to see a cold glass of water waiting for him and downed it in one go.

The backyard had a metal tree with blue glass bottles in place of leaves on the branches. Faint lights twinkled inside them. It could’ve been the sunlight; it could’ve been a trick of the eye; it could’ve been the same little lights Babe had seen all last night. 

He really needed to take a vacation after this vacation. Or get his eyes checked; something wasn’t right.

“Something’s strange here,” Spina said as he sat down next to Babe. 

“Everything’s strange here,” Babe said. 

Bill took his seat on the other side of Babe and nodded in agreement.

“Maybe everything is normal here and we’re the strange ones,” Julian said as he sprawled across all their legs.

Bill slapped him on the back of his head. “What the hell is the matter with you?”

“Too much time in the sun,” Babe said.

Spina shook his head. “Obviously dropped on his head as a baby.”

“No,” Bill disagreed. “Clearly it’s all that sugar his drinking that’s rotting his teeth and his brain.”

“Fuck you,” Julian said. “The tea is good.”

Bill snorted. “If I’m drinking that much fucking sugar, it better come from a Kool-Aid packet.”

“Don’t judge me,” Julian said. “You legit ate a bag of chips with the name _Voodoo_ on them.”

Bill grinned. “And they were magically delicious.”

The back door slammed open and they all turned to see the lazy smile of Merriell Shelton. “Going to go get some food for lunch. Any one of you boys willing to help carry?”

Babe wrinkled his nose. “No more pancakes or waffles or any breakfast food.”

Merriell’s eye roll was truly impressive. “Waffle House ain’t the only place to eat here. We’re going to _Riggi’s_. It’s a town over.”

Babe shook his head. “Sorry. Ma warned me about not getting into cars with strange boys.”

“Apparently it’s okay to go home with them though,” Merriell said.

Spina giggled—actually fucking giggled—at them. “Oh damn,” he said. 

“Could use some popcorn right about now,” Bill agreed. “My money’s on Babe though.”

“Thanks for the support,” Babe said.

Julian rolled up on to his feet. “I’ll go. I’m the only one whose phone works, so I can call for help.”

Merriell shook his head. “Why you boys think I’m going to eat you? Ain’t none of you my type.”

“Breathing’s your type,” Gene said as he pushed opened the back door. “We ready to go?”

Julian waved his phone in the air at Babe as he stood up. “Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me.”

Bill and Spina laughed while Merriell just looked at Babe until Babe asked him what was wrong.

“Why you know him?” Merriell asked, pointing after Julian. 

Babe shrugged. “He’s family.”

Merriell let out an animal-sounding snort before going back into the house. Gene stuck his head back out real quick. “Everyone’s okay with some po boys, yeah? We’re getting roast beef since they’ll be so much seafood tonight.”

Bill pulled out his wallet. “Let us cover some of the cost. You guys are doing so much for us.”

Gene waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. Lena’ll be by for dinner tonight. It’s food for food and a fair trade.”

“If it’s about a fair trade—what the hell are you getting out of us?” Bill asked.

“Entertainment,” Gene said with a grin before leaving.

Bill shook his head. “Don’t know how I feel about him. He’s too quiet.”

Spina shrugged. “He seems like a nice enough guy. Everybody at the market asked about him.”

Babe could feel two sets of eyes on him. “I like him,” he said. “He’s just---he’s---I.”

Bill gripped his shoulder. “Use your words, Babe.”

“He just makes me feel comfortable,” Babe admitted, voice quieter as if he could keep the truth to himself. 

“You’ve known him for less than a day,” Spina said. He wasn’t critical, Spina rarely was, but Babe could hear the concern in his voice. They were just strangers passing through and he knew, damn well, just how hard Babe could fall. 

“I know,” Babe said. 

****

*************

The backyard had lanterns hanging from the tree limbs and colorful table cloths covering the old folding tables and picnic benches. Babe was full of good food and trying his damnedest to stay awake as he helped Anna carry out the stacks of dishes and cups. They had whole stations to set up for people to serve themselves like a big outdoor buffet.

Babe quickly covered his mouth as he yawned again. 

“You should take a nap,” Anna said. 

“I’m fine,” Babe insisted. 

“You spent all day baking out in the sun and breathing in swamp air.” Anna held her hands for his stack of dishes. “Go take a nap.” She shook her head at Babe. “You’re going to meet so many people tonight and you don’t want to yawn in all their faces. A nap will do you wonders.”

“She’s right,” Julian said. He was perched on a step-stool and held up a line of white Christmas lights as Gene sat on the roof and plugged them into another set there. “You look tired as fuck.”

“Thanks, Julian,” Babe called. He turned to Anna, not wanting to be a bad guest. “Are you sure?”

“Go,” Anna ordered him with a small hip check and a shove. 

Babe didn’t remember falling asleep. He just knew one moment he was staring down at his pillows and the next he was waking up to a darker room and the sound of unfamiliar voices. He stretched and hugged his pillow closer to his chest. He stopped when his hand came in contact with something hard wrapped in something soft. 

“What the fuck?” he asked as he sat up. He pulled a small blue pouch out from under his pillow. He untied the bow and frowned as a small piece of something fell into his palm. It looked like a small tree stump, but it was hard as a rock, and Babe had no idea how it got under his pillow. It certainly wasn’t there when he laid down, at least he didn’t think so, and it wasn’t the type of thing any of the boys would use for a prank.

“What the fuck?” Babe asked again. 

There was a knock on the door and Julian poked his head inside. “Hey! You’re finally awake! Come on. Food’s out soon.”

“Let me just brush my teeth,” Babe said. 

Julian laughed. “Yeah, bro. Maybe fix your hair too.” He waggled his fingers over his head. “Look kind of like a cockatoo.”

“Fuck you,” Babe said and shuffled off to the bathroom. The weird stone stayed in his pocket. 

There were a surprising amount of people outside. Small kids were running around, laughing and chasing a big black dog, and dodging around the adults carrying drinks and plates of food. A whole cadre of older woman had taken over the back porch, rocking in their chairs and holding court. 

Babe found his boys next to Ray, standing next to the table that held a ridiculous variety of hot sauces. 

“Look who finally came to join the party!” Bill yelled. He handed Babe a drink. “Ray swears this is some good shit.”

Babe looked down into his cup of clear liquid. “Is this moonshine?”

Ray winked. “Drink it and find out.”

Babe had a feeling his association with Ray was going to lead him down the path of some sort of criminal activity. He shrugged and downed his drink. It certainly wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen to him this week. 

****

*************

Gene took the beer Merriell pressed into his hand without comment. They were both lounging in the cradling roots of one of the old cypress trees and watching as Bill Guarnere held court with a whole group of people from their parish fascinated by his stories and his accent.

“Lots of charisma in that one,” Merriell said. “Too bad he’s all plain-like.”

“He ain’t meant for here,” Gene agreed. He looked down at the Wisps dancing over his bare feet and creating a little chain through the grass between him and Babe. “Might be that none of them are.”

“Bullshit,” Merriell said. He gestured between Babe and Julian with his own beer. “Too much keeps happening around those two for it to be pure coincidence.” He leveled Gene with a look. “You know better than that, Eugene.”

Names always held power. A lot of people, the kind who liked to play at summoning demons and the ones who actually did, would tell you that handing over your real name gave people the power over you. Gene always thought that was bullshit. To him, a name only had meaning if it meant something to _you_. His mama had called him Gene from the day he was born. Everyone he loved used that name for him. Merriell only called him Eugene to annoy him. And someone like Babe—Babe had handed over all his names to Gene like it meant nothing. And it wouldn’t, to someone like Babe, who had never learned to keep all his names to himself; who didn’t have the first clue about the world he’d stumbled into. And Gene could use that against him, could take _Edward_ and _James_ and _Heffron_ and try enchant him, but none of those would hold the power of the name _Babe_. And here, surrounded by three men who were obviously his brothers in all sense of the word, even using that name wouldn’t be enough to summon Babe away from his world.

No matter how hard the Wisps were trying to lead him astray. 

“I never should’ve told them I was lonely,” Gene said.

Merriell made a wounded sound and crawled closer to Gene. He rested his head on Gene’s shoulder and scented him. Gene wasn’t a wolf, didn’t come from a wolf pack, but he’d always found comfort in Merriell’s more lupine actions.

“Always got me,” Merriell said.

Gene pressed a kiss to the top of Merriell’s head. “I know. You’se lonely too.”

“I know,” Merriell said, voice small. He growled. “Wished you smelled better to me.”

Gene laughed and said. “Same. Ain’t to be though.”

Gene didn’t really believe in fate. He should, all things considered, but he’d spent his life surrounded by the Wisps. People were full of choices and the Wisps were the physical manifestations of the fact; you could choose to follow or you could choose to turn away. You could see the light or stay in the dark. 

Gene liked Babe, instinctually, inherently, could feel the attraction and the connection between them thriving like a living thing. Babe was still a choice though; for Gene, for himself, for all of them here. He was a risk too, in so many ways. 

He looked up at the moon, still bright even through the branches over them. “What you up to this time?”

“Shhh,” Merriell said. “Don’t tempt the Bright Lady. She’s been nice to me this month.”

Gene cuddled Merriell closer and nodded. Outside of the new and full moons, Merriell could change easily, like breathing. The pull of the moon in those certain phases though—they were hell on him. There’d been fewer howls of pain this month, less blood to clean up off the floor, fewer broken bones and gashes. The change became seamless as a wolf came into their own, but for those first few years the change was an actual living hell. And for a wolf, Merriell was still so young. It took everything out of a body and soul and Merriell always went into and came out of change of full moon nights ready to eat an entire grocery store worth of protein. 

“You need to sleep?” Gene asked. “I’ll watch over you.”

“Always do,” Merriell mumbled, half asleep already. “Do the same for you.”

“I know,” Gene said. “I know.”

 

****

*************

Babe knew he had to be dreaming because he wasn’t the sleepwalking type, and that would be the only way to explain the feel of Spanish moss beneath his feet. He knew he was dreaming because there was no way those bright balls of light could be singing and talking to him outside of anywhere but his dreams. He knew he was dreaming because even awake he didn’t just walk to the water for no reason.

He could hear it though. It told him to come say hello. The bright lights twirled around his legs and led him on and told him to come say hello. They all seemed so happy that Babe was there, full of joy. His feet went into the water and Babe really hoped he didn’t piss the bed. 

And then he went deeper into the water. 

And then—

And then Babe couldn’t breathe. 

****

**************

Gene gasped awake as Merriell shot out of his arms, in full wolf form, howling and rampaging at the door. Gene stumbled out of bed, throwing open the door and racing after him. He wasn’t fast enough, not nearly able to catch up with Merriell’s four legs going as fast as they could.

The Wisps were out on the water, gathered around in a circle, bright and shining and blaring. Gene could feel a stitch forming in his side, tried to fight the panic as Merriell went jumping into the water, after someone or something.

Anna came running out of her house, Renee on her heels, and both looked stricken.

“Babe’s not in his bed,” Anna gasped out as she reached Gene.

“ _Merde!_ ”Gene cursed. He could feel the panic rise in his throat as he ran to the water’s edge. 

Merriell was there, struggling and pulling something-- _someone_ \--out of the water. 

Gene almost cried out when he saw the pale skin and the dark red hair. There was blood on his shoulder from Merriell’s hold. He surged forward and pulled Babe out, carrying him to a dry patch of grass and trying to remember even the most basic of healing rituals.

“Gene,” Anna yelled at him. “Concentrate.”

Gene nodded. He took Babe’s face in his hand. He was still warm. He turned Babe to his side and almost dropped in relief when Babe immediately started coughing. Dirt and moss clung to Babe’s feet. The Wisps were above them bright and glowing and offering enough light for Gene to do as much of an inspection as he could out here. He put a hand over Babe’s open wound and pushed some of his own power into Babe’s body, just enough to wake him up. 

Babe coughed again, eyes struggling opening and hands grasping at the ground. 

“That’s it,” Gene said, voice pitched low and soothing. He felt Renee at his back, her hands on his neck, lending her own power to Gene, to Babe. 

Babe struggled to sit up and Gene helped him as much as he could, hand still on his wound. 

“Not a dream?” Babe rasped out.

“No,” Gene said.

Babe looked to the Wisps circling above them like a very large crown. “You can see the lights too?”

“Yes,” Gene said. 

He looked at his shoulder. “Your hand’s glowing.” He looked up at Renee. “Her hand is glowing too.”

Merriell nosed at Babe’s hand and Babe automatically turned it up to let him sniff. 

“Wolf?” he asked.

“Yes,” Gene said.

Babe nodded. “Okay. I think I need to sit down.”

“You are,” Gene said.

“Oh,” Babe said. His face went even paler. “That’s good.” He looked up at Gene. “Pinch me?”

“The throbbing wolf bite isn’t enough?” Gene asked, finding his words again. 

Babe closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “My mom’s going to kill me if I become a werewolf.”

“You won’t,” Renee said. “It doesn’t really work like that.”

“Oh, okay,” Babe said. “That’s good.” He started shaking.

“Take him to your house,” Anna said. “It’s closer. The others are sleeping. He needs a warm bath.” She cupped Gene’s cheek. “Don’t let him go. Not tonight.”


	7. Six

Babe was recovering under the peaceful sleep of the dreamless, one of Gene’s hands on his forehead and Merriell, still in his wolf skin, curled up on his feet. Anna watched over them and felt her own hands shake. They could’ve lost so much tonight. 

She felt a rush of warmth across the back of her neck and turned to find Renee behind her. She leaned back and let Renee take her weight and her worry. Renee wrapped her arms around Anna’s waist and pressed soft kisses wherever she could reach until they were both calm enough to speak. So much worry around them, it was almost enough to choke on. 

Renee stepped back and took one of her hands, leading them away into the kitchen. Anna could still keep an eye on those boys, but there were words that needed to be spoken elsewhere. She held her tongue until Renee pressed her hands to an old horseshoe tacked up near the doorway. It briefly glowed green before fading back to its dark and rusted brown. The ward was set. No one would hear a word they said, though they would still be able to hear any calls for help. 

Anna found the nearest chair and dropped into it. _So close_. Another minute and they could’ve been too late. 

“Did the water mean to drown him?” Renee asked. 

Anna didn’t think so; she knew their town could be malicious to outsiders, but it never would’ve revealed its road to Babe if they found him full of malice in his heart. The trees bent their branches to listen to him talk. The Wisps flocked to him like they did Gene. The water…it rose up to find him, not to drag him down. 

“I don’t think he realized he was awake,” Anna said. It worked that way for some magicians; the line between awake and dreaming so thin it was impossible to tell the difference. Or it could just be Babe’s inherent magic responding to the new possibilities around him. 

“He’s in thrall?” Renee asked. 

Anna shrugged. “It’s not unheard of, especially when he comes from a place so far removed from our world. If he’s been working so hard to deny what is in front him, I imagine the Wisps took matters into their own hands. I doubt they meant it to end like this.”

Anna could see where the Wisps were gathered outside in a wall of blue and green light. They didn’t dare cross the threshold into Gene’s home, not when his displeasure resonated throughout St. Therese. The rain had already begun to pour down in response and Anna certainly wasn’t in a mood to stop it. 

“We’re going to have to tell him so much once he wakes up,” Renee said. 

Anna sighed. She’d had to guide so many people through the transition from the world they knew to the one that existed around them. Had to watch the stages of denial they went through as they refused to acknowledge the magic living and breathing in front of them. She’d only known Babe for a day now, but his stubborn streak was already clear. She had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an easy lesson for him, or for her, or for Gene. 

It was hard to understand a world with magic when you grew up without. Anna suspected it was even more difficult to live without it once you knew—to go back home to where the trees roaring voices were just whispers on the wind and the loud babbling of the water just muffled rumblings below layers of concrete and metal work. How could you just turn away from all the wonders? They’d had many people over the years who had Awoken to the knowledge of something different within and around them. Many had stayed and joined their little community. Others had left though, never to return. 

She focused again on where Gene was pushing his healing power into Babe, healing his sleeping mind as much as his body. 

“We’re going to need a gallon of coffee,” she said. 

“A few at least,” Renee agreed.

****

***************

Babe had that nasty taste in his mouth that only came when he’d been snoring half the night. He could feel Julian’s hand on his forehead and tried to throw him off, but when he moved his arm he felt a throbbing pain at his side.

Babe opened his eyes to find that damn wolf/dog on his chest again, this time his eyes glowing golden, and not moving an inch when Babe screamed. 

Babe tried to sit up and failed when the wolf/dog/mangy canine refused to move. He heard a crash and Gene came sliding into the room. His eyes were wide as he looked at Babe before he shook his head. 

“Get down,” he said.

“I’m stuck,” Babe said.

Gene laughed. “Not you.” He snapped his fingers and the creature gave a small growl before he hopped off Babe and settled next to Gene’s side. Gene patted its head. “Bacon’s in the kitchen. Go help yourself.”

“You do have a hell of a guard dog,” Babe said and fell back, his body feeling weak. He tried to sit up again and Gene was immediately at his side to help him. “What the hell happened to me?”

“How much do you remember about last night?” Gene asked. 

“I know Ray didn’t get me _that_ drunk on that swill he was passing around,” Babe said. He tried to concentrate, but all he could remember was flashing lights, laughter, and water. “There was a dream.”

“Not so much a dream,” Gene said. He held his hands out, palms up. “May I?” he asked. 

“Uh?” Babe asked. “Uh, sure, I guess.” He put his hands in Gene’s own. 

“Take a deep breath,” Gene said. “This is going to scare you.”

Babe laughed. “I’m okay with a little hand-holding.”

Gene’s smile was sad as he grasped Babe’s hands tighter.

It was like being shot. Sudden and painful and Babe forgot how to breathe. He felt a stabbing pain in his brain as memories or dreams or visions were forced out from their hiding places. He must’ve been seeing it from Gene’s point of view. The lights on the water, the wolf pulling Babe out. Blood. And warmth? Warmth leaking out of his—out of Gene’s—body and into Babe’s own. Anna and Renee looking at them, concern and determination in their eyes. The moon still shining brightly above them and the blue-green balls of light forming a barrier around them. The wind howled through the trees, a bone-chilling call. 

Babe was cold—gasping for air—and then he was blinking tears out of his eyes and Gene’s hands were on his face. 

“What the fuck?” Babe asked.

Gene was completely serious when he asked, “Do you believe in magic?”

Babe didn’t think he could be blamed for the small black out that happened after. 

****

**************

Babe was just going to keep his head in his hands. It was a good place; comfy, familiar, where no magical creatures could bother him.

And then a fucking Wisp flew up and hit him right in the forehead. Wisps. Gene told him that was the proper name for the lights he kept seeing out of the corner of his eye.

Magic. Magical creatures. Magical dealings. Talking fucking trees and waters and how the _hell_ did Babe get into these situations?

“Your dog isn’t really a dog, is it,” Babe said.

Gene was quiet enough that Babe finally raised his head up. He didn’t like that look on Gene’s face.

“I’m not going to like what you’re about to tell me, am I?” Babe asked.

Gene nudged the wolf-dog at Babe’s feet. “Change,” he said.

In a second growling turned to groaning and Babe had a naked Merriell Shelton at his feet. 

“I need to sit down,” Babe said.

“You are though,” Merriell said.

Gene threw some clothes at Merriell and sat down beside Babe. He didn’t touch him, just sat there still and quiet until Babe could speak again. 

“Magic,” Babe said.

Gene nodded. 

“How?” Babe asked. 

Gene shrugged. 

Babe was about five seconds from cursing someone out or throwing a punch or both. “I’m going to need some words here, Gene. How the hell did this happen?”

“It’s not really my place to explain it,” Gene said. “That’s normally Anna’s part.”

Was it really just yesterday Julian was in Anna and Renee’s kitchen going through a book and calling them witches? That fucking kid really did have a hell of an intuition. 

“Is it because we like, broke bread with you?” Babe asked. “You’re not supposed to eat food in the fairy realm.”

“We look like fairies to you?” Merriell asked. 

Babe glared at him. “I don’t know who the hell-- _what_ \--the hell you are. For all I know you really are trying to sacrifice us. You do this shit to every stranger passing through? This town doesn’t exist, right? So maybe you people believe you have to sacrifice someone to keep it hidden.”

Gene’s shoulders dropped and he shifted away from Babe. “We didn’t do this to you. We wouldn’t do that. Food is just food. People are just people. We may be a magical town, but we don’t hurt folk.” He stood up suddenly. “You’ve been out of it for a day and night. I’ll go let your boys know you’re ready for visitors.”

He was out the door before Babe could say anything else. He looked at Merriell who gave him one of the darkest glares he’d ever seen.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Merriell said. “Next time I’m going to bite you in the ass.” He threw down his shirt and followed Gene, the door slamming behind him. 

Babe didn’t know if he should get up and follow them. He didn’t know if it was okay to stay here. He didn’t know if he was like, allowed back in Anna and Renee’s house unless he was officially invited or some shit. He didn’t know how this magic shit worked. 

He pinched himself. Yup, still awake. 

The door flew open and Bill came barreling inside. He pulled Babe up into a hug, painfully strong, but Babe didn’t say a word even as his shoulder throbbed. He could feel Bill shaking under his hands, could feel the quiet sobs as the terror worked its way through Bill’s system. 

It’d been five years since Henry Guarnere died. The loss was never far away for any of them, especially not Bill, who had clung to his family a little tighter ever since. 

Soon Spina and Julian were around them as well. Babe finally felt something in him relax. His entire world might be shit right now, but this, right here, _this_ would never change. 

****

**************

Gene could only hear the rush of his own blood in his ears. He didn’t pay attention to where he was going or who he knocked into along the way. He just needed to keep running until he could breathe nice and normal again. He came to a stop at his sanctuary. From the outside it looked like an old dilapidated barn. His fingers were shaking so hard he couldn’t pull open the rusted latch. He cursed and tried to make his hands still.  
A familiar snout knocked into the back of his knees. Merriell pushed in front of him, heavier somehow in his wolf-skin, and jumped to his hind legs. He worked the latch up with his front paws and dropped down again. Gene patted Merriell’s head before pulling open the door. He blinked at the flashing of the ward as the barn switched from looking like an abandoned dump to the comfortable fox den it truly was inside.

Chuck Grant was stretched out on his couch flipping through the channels on his monstrosity of a television, two small sleeping children curled up on either side of him. 

“Gene, that you?” he asked. “Did Ron send you over with food again? Me and the kits are perfectly able to fend for ourselves and he damn well knows that, the overprotective fuck.”

“Don’t curse in front of your babies,” Gene said. He winced at how broken his voice sounded. There was no way Chuck would’ve missed it. 

Chuck didn’t sit up, because he always let sleeping foxes lie, but his eyes said enough.

“Who do we need to murder?” he asked. 

Gene shook his head as he approached the couch. He sat down on the floor, rested his head against the couch arm closest to Chuck, and stared at whatever shit was on the tv. Merriell plopped down next to him, nudging Gene’s legs until he was comfortable enough to rest his head and paws on them. Gene closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, another, concentrated on the warmth from Merriell on his legs, and the feel of Chuck’s fingers scratching though his hair. Robin and Reynard snuffled in their sleep. They’d just learned to hold one of their forms while they dreamed, but even as humans they still sounded like swamp foxes. 

“Want me to send the twins out to gnaw on their ankles?” Chuck asked. “They could use a new chew toy.”

Gene shrugged. “Can’t blame people for being people.”

“Bullshit,” Chuck said. He carefully sat up, gently cradling the twins. He poked Gene on the top of the head. “Get up here. You’re killing my neck and I think we need to talk this out face-to-face.”

Gene wasn’t in the mood to argue with anyone else right now, so he heaved himself off the floor and settled on to the other end of the couch. He wasn’t even surprised when Chuck dropped his feet into his lap. Merriell gave them a look before leaping over them and claiming the top of the couch as his new bed.

“Show off,” Chuck scoffed. 

Merriell sneezed in his face and then dropped his head back down to nap. 

Gene smiled at them, at the warmth of his kin around him, soothing even in the muttered asshole comments from Chuck and Merriell swiping the back of Gene’s head with his tail. 

“When you came here,” Gene started. He stopped, feeling the bile rise in his throat. He forced it back down and tried again. “Do you think we did something to you? Something wrong? That we were going to hurt you?”

“I thought your Waffle House had the shittiest hash browns this side of the Mississippi,” Chuck said. He nudged Gene’s thigh with his toes. “This have to do with your new guests? One of them being an ass?”

Gene shrugged. “One of them is Awakening. Almost drowned. Asked if we were going to sacrifice him for our greater good. Talked like we all we something bad.”

Chuck’s _fuck_ was soft. “That was uncalled for. I know how you and Anna and Renee open your hearts and homes to every lost stray stumbling down the street. He had no right to say that about any of you.”

“But…” Gene said, sensing something more to come. 

“But it’s a hell of a shock, Gene,” Chuck admitted. “The first time Ron switched forms on me? I screamed. Like, legit screamed, man. Scared the nutrias out of their nest. Here was Ron trusting me with this big secret and I almost pepper sprayed him out of surprise.”

Gene smiled. “Not the smoothest of moves.”

“To say the fucking least,” Chuck agreed. He looked down at Robin and Reynard with a soft smile. “Worked out okay in the end. Even if he does try to divorce me every time I yell, ‘Swiper, no swiping’ at him. Not my fault he’s a kleptomaniac shapeshifter.”

“To be fair, it makes it easy to pay him when he’ll take just about anything shiny,” Gene said. Folks around here were often low on actual money. Ron still opened his kitchen for them and took whatever payment they had. 

Chuck nodded and then nudged Gene with his toes again. “Give it a night or two. See where this guy of yours stands after he gets the full explanation. Because after all the _hows_ he’s going to have a hell of a lot of _whys_. And if he’s Awakening? You know you’ve got to find what flipped his switch. It’ll be dangerous as hell to send him back home without some basic control techniques.”

“Anna’s working on it,” Gene said. 

“She’s certainly got that lesson plan down,” Chuck agreed. He leaned over and gently dropped Robin in Gene’s lap. “Looks like you need a cuddle.”

Gene said nothing as Robin opened his eyes for a moment, sneezed, turned into the tiny kit of his other form, and started gnawing on his fingers. This was his life. This was his normal. It was wonderful and beautiful and if someone couldn’t see all the good? 

That was someone who didn’t need to be here. 

****

**************

Bill was pacing the length of Gene Roe’s kitchen. His footfalls were heavy, his arms were crossed, and his jaw jutted out at a truly painful angle. A lesser person would’ve shrunk away in the face of all that fury. Babe just smiled at the familiar sight.

“Magic,” Bill said. “Ma-GIC. MAGIC. As in abracadabra, with a wand, Harry Potter, Merlin, Percy Jackson shit.”

“Percy Jackson is more mythology and demi-gods,” Spina said. 

Bill stopped and stared at him. “I’m sorry are you arguing with me about whether or not a child of Poseidon is magical or not?”

“I’m sorry are you trying to use fictional stories as a point of fact?” Spina asked. 

Julian leaned over and poked Babe in the cheek. 

“What?” Babe asked.

Julian grinned and said, “You’re a Wizard, Heffron.”

“Fuck you,” Babe said as he shoved him away. 

“How the hell did this happen?” Bill asked. 

Babe shrugged. “I’ve been seeing these lights for days. I saw them back when we crossed the border into Louisiana, but thought they were just lights off the road, you know? I didn’t seem them in any large number until we got here. I thought I just needed my eyes fixed.”

“You need something fixed alright,” Bill agreed. 

Babe dropped his eyes to the table. He knew he should’ve told someone. It’d only been a couple days though and he’d been tired as hell. Magic wasn’t even in the realm of possibilities. 

“Gene called them Wisps,” he said.

“Like Will’O’Wisps?” Julian asked. 

He looked delighted and Babe suddenly felt a different type of horrified terror go down his spine. That smile only meant bad things. 

“Yeah,” Babe said. “I’m guessing that’s what he meant.”

Julian grinned and punched Babe in the arm. “Oh shit, you’re Merida. You’re going to change your fate!” 

Babe tried desperately not to faceplant into the table. He would never, ever live this down. 

“He can’t be Merida,” Spina said. “His archery sucks though. I’m pretty sure Coach Thomas still flinches around redheads carrying bows.”

“I was six,” Babe said. 

“Doesn’t make you shooting the poor man with an arrow any less true,” Spina said. 

Bill rolled his eyes at all of them. “Do you have any fucking clue what’s going on?”

Babe shook his head. “I think I pissed Gene off. I know I pissed Merriell off. I woke up and they went to get you. Gene said something about Anna usually handling it.”

“Then what the hell are we doing here?” Bill asked. He looked around the kitchen as if Anna would appear out of thin air. “If you’ve got some uncontrollable magical power that leads you to the water to almost drown we need to control that shit.”

“Maybe they were just trying to give him the swamp version of Excalibur,” Spina said.

“ _Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government_ ,” Julian quoted. 

Bill didn’t say anything, just pulled each one of them out of their chairs and pushed them towards the door. “We’re going to get some fucking answers,” he said. “I’m not taking you back home all X-Men’d up without any idea how to control this shit. Ma Heffron will kill all of us.”

Julian made eye contact with Babe and started laughing. 

“What?” Babe asked.

Julian wiped his eyes, took a deep breath, and started laughing again.

“Seriously, what?”

“I guess you really are the Babe with the power,” Julian finally stuttered out between laughs.

Babe immediately turned to Spina and Bill. “Don’t,” he ordered.

“Sorry,” Bill said.

Spina cleared his throat and started a truly loud and atrocious rendition of _Magic Dance_.


	8. Seven

Anna gathered them outside, under a cluster of moss draped live oaks near the water. Babe couldn’t tear his gaze away from the edge; from the sunken spot in the grass where Merriell must’ve pulled him out; he couldn’t hear anything but the rush of water. He flinched as a spray of water shot up and over the edge. 

“I didn’t think bayou water, like, did that,” Julian said. He crowded closer to Babe’s side, trying to shield him. 

“It doesn’t,” Anna said. “That’s why we’re here now.”

Babe forced himself to turn away and met Anna’s gaze. She looked sympathetic, kind, but tired. He could see the wariness in her face, the slight shake of her hands as she passed around everyone’s beverages, the tight line around her mouth. Renee stayed silent in her place, head bowed, folding a blue cloth over and over again in her hands. 

A gust of wind blew through the trees, smelling sweet; the trailing fingers of Spanish moss brushed across them all like a soothing touch. Babe didn’t know if that was a natural thing or magical. He couldn’t be sure what was _real_ -real and what was everything else. 

“You got that constipated look on your face,” Spina said. He poked Babe’s cheek. “Smile, Sunshine. It’s just wind.” He turned to Anna. “It’s just wind, right?”

Anna nodded. “Just wind.”

Babe wanted to believe her—he really _really_ did—yet his bullshit meter was blaring at _Code Red_. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and swore he could hear a distant, bubbling whisper. It wasn’t in English, wasn’t in any language Babe had ever heard, and yet he understood. The trees wanted to say ‘hi’ and to comfort Anna, to extend that comfort to all of them like they knew she wanted.

Babe opened his eyes and found Anna smiling at him. She winked before finally taking her own spot in the cradle of live oak’s roots. 

“I have a standard speech I usually give here,” she said. She shook her head. “I don’t think it will work this time. You’re all quite…inquisitive.”

Babe snorted while Julian laughed and Spina rolled his eyes. Bill held a hand up to shush them all. 

“We’re loud and nosy as hell. You don’t have to make it sound pretty,” he said. “We know how hard it is to get Julian to shut up. No bullshit, though. Magic? Really?”

Anna smiled. “Magic,” she said with a nod. “Really.”

“How?” Babe asked. 

Renee stood up suddenly, the swath of blue fabric still in her hands. “I’ll explain it to the others, but Babe, Anna should explain it to you on your own.” She exchanged a look with her wife. “It can be personal.”

Babe almost laughed. “There’s no such thing as secrets or personal space among this group.”

Renee shook her head. “You should still—it should be—just, please. For your sake.”

Babe looked to Anna who seemed confused in her own right. Renee seemed so certain though, so insistent, that Babe couldn’t find it in himself to deny her. 

“Okay,” he said. He stood up and took his drink. “You know a good spot?” he asked Anna.

“I do,” she said and held out her hand. 

Babe only hesitated for a moment to take it. 

“Don’t get eaten by a gator,” Julian called after him. 

Babe leaned down to ask Anna, “Is there a chance of that?”

Anna shrugged. “Water seems to like you, but ain’t no one can control a gator. Best to give them their space.”

“I don’t exactly want to walk up and pet one,” Babe said. He liked to stay far the fuck away from things with super sharp teeth. 

Anna shook her head at him. “Be careful of any pets Merriell tries to introduce you to then. He tends to make friends with just about everything.”

“Thing?” Babe asked. “Not anyone?”

“He spends a good portion of his life as a wolf and you honestly think his only friends are human-like? We’re really about to broaden your worldview.”

They walked deeper into the country, past broken down barns and rotting cabins. The people and the buildings became sparser the deeper Anna walked into the bayou until all that surrounded them was wilderness. Anna hummed to herself while Babe nearly broke his neck as he kept turning around trying to take it all in. He stumbled over a couple roots, his sneakers no match for the ground around them. He swore he saw some roots shrink as Anna neared them, as if trying to get out of her way. She had a pair of sandals on and didn’t stumble once. 

They came to an old bridge, a rusted bit of metal and wood, and while Babe had to bite back an _oh hell no_ , Anna walked right on as if there was no concern for contracting tetanus or falling to their deaths or just general avoidance of what was an obvious health hazard. 

Anna held out her hand, extended palm up, and waited for him. 

Babe put a foot forward, pressed it down on to the bridge, and waited for it to fall apart. He closed his eyes and tried to anticipate the inevitable drop. He opened his eyes at the sound of Anna’s laughter. The bridge still stood and so did Babe. He took another step and another and another until he’d met Anna at the halfway point. 

“If I checked your blood pressure right now?” Anna asked.

“Just sit back and wait for the heart attack,” Babe said. He wasn’t ashamed of how hard he gripped Anna’s hands. They were an anchor out here, staring out over the bayou. The water started to rush under them and only Anna’s touch kept him from running off the bridge. 

“I don’t know much about Philadelphia,” Anna admitted. “I know about the Fresh Prince and the Liberty Bell. The _Rocky_ movies. It’s near water, is it not?”

Babe nodded. “The Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers meet there. Lots of parks, a ton of shit to see. Never get bored.”

“The rivers meet?” Anna asked. 

“So they tell us,” Babe said. He turned to her and was surprised to see the large grin on her face. “What?” he asked. 

“I know the answer to the great mystery of Babe Heffron and his magic,” she said. “You grew up on a crossroads.”

“I mean, yeah, I grew up near Two Street, so there were crossroads all around,” Babe said. The water bubbled up higher, but Anna didn’t move. 

Anna shook her head. “The rivers meeting. A natural crossroads and a magical one. It would’ve dampened your connection to the water, too over-run with other forms of magic. There are roads and ley lines and rivers that cross and then there are crossroads. They are not the same thing.”

Babe could feel another headache forming. “I need to sit down,” he said. He didn’t care he was about get rust and god only knew what other kind of nature all over his jeans. He had a feeling Anna was only at the tip of hitting his mental iceberg. 

The water rushed up again, spewing up a little and hitting the bare skin of his ankle before quieting down and fading to a slow and steady speed. 

“What the fuck?” he asked. 

Anna patted his shoulder as she sat down beside him. “It just wants to say hello. It’s missed you, I bet. All those years in Philadelphia with the water seeking to talk to you, and not being able to be heard. It must’ve followed you the entire journey down. It just wants you to listen.”

“I don’t know how,” Babe said.

“We’ll teach you,” Anna said. She sounded so certain Babe couldn’t doubt her. “First, though, magic,” she said. 

“Right,” Babe agreed. “How the fuck?” he asked. “I know magic has—people have always been obsessed with it. Wizards and witches and alchemists. Sooth-sayers and magic men and illusionists. Wands and staffs and crystal balls. Like, how much of that is bullshit and how much of it is real?”

Anna shrugged, patting bits of river weeds poking through the bridge’s bars. “Is it not all real to those who believe it? If someone honestly believes they can see a future, any future, or talk to those who once lived, or that a spell they found in a library book means good will come their way, is it my place to tell them it’s all lies? I don’t know that. I can’t know that. Magic takes different forms for everyone. Magic don’t need fancy words and pretty wands to work. It ain’t just something in stories. It’s part of the world—it just exists—you just gotta know how to find it. And most importantly, you must always respect it.” The weeds under her hands bloomed into bright blue flowers. “It’s funny isn’t it?”

“What?” Babe asked. 

“People think magic can only exist in castles or in a fantasy world or only in the hands of the whitest of white folks.” Anna solemnly nodded her head. “That is of course the only time it is pure as well. _White_ magic is the only good one. _Black_ magic is dark and seductive, and primitive.”

Babe stayed quiet and let her continue. 

“Black women with magic in the South; we’re only respected when our name is Marie Laveau. People who never even met me assume I’m a witch and stopped me in the street and asked me to do some voodoo or make a love potion for them. Never mind that I’ve not a priestess or a practitioner of Vodoun. Never mind that to them magic is a thing of play and not a part of a ritualistic religion. It’s only okay to have ritualistic chants and symbols when you’re doing it on _their_ idea of consecrated ground. These days kids wait for letters to Hogwarts while I’ve spent all the years of my life here wondering if someone was going to burn me at the stake for being a woman, black, a witch, or all three.”  
The flowers were starting to wither and die. Babe carefully put his hands over Anna’s own until the flowers came back to life. 

“The town protects us,” Anna said. “And we protect the town. We save it from being wiped out by government-mandated floods and nature-mandated hurricanes. I wish we could protect all of Louisiana. We’re losing so many people and so much land each year. There’s not enough of us, though, to do that. We can protect this tiny town. This little sanctuary where the trees still thrive. Where the world around us can just _be_ without tourists on swamp tours or developers trying to make a ‘Cajun and Creole’ theme park out of our homes.”

Anna took the flowers and dropped them into the water. “You give back what you take. That’s your first lesson. It might be years before you learn to coax something viable out of the water, but I can see it for you.”

“Anna,” Babe said. “Why now? Why for me?”

“Something had to flip that switch in you. It went from background noise in your head to the full volume that it’s at now. You left a place where two major rivers met--two rivers full of history and powers all of their own. The crossroads would’ve muffled both of their voices and then the noise of the city on top of all that. So now you are here, where magic is allowed to flow, and it’s opening your senses.”

“And the Wisps?” Babe asked.

“Sometimes magic just finds you. It comes upon everyone differently. In Merriell’s family it made them wolves. For Gene’s family, for Renee’s, it made them healers. It speaks to me through the trees and the air and the earth and greets me like the oldest of friends.” She stood up and held her hand out to Babe again. “The Wisps have been following you your entire life. You just never saw them.”

“I think I would’ve noticed little balls of light around me,” he said as he took her hand and led her off the bridge.

“Never had a street lamp suddenly glow brighter as you walked under it?” Anna asked as they passed through the woods. “Never had a candle flame suddenly flare? Never caught a firefly?”

Babe laughed. “You’re trying to tell me fireflies are Wisps?”

Anna’s eyebrows arched towards her forehead. “How many other kids growing up in the middle of the city grew up catching fireflies on their fire escape?”

Babe would one day figure out why everyone in this town made him speechless.

“I thought so,” Anna said. 

“At least none of them sang to me,” Babe muttered. 

“Why would a firefly sing to you?” Anna asked. 

 

****

**************

The entire group met them as they crossed over from the woods on to the actual paved road.

“How was the three hour tour?” Julian asked. 

“Never trust a man named Gilligan,” Babe said. 

Anna rolled her eyes at him before stepping away. “You’ve been lovely company, but I’m leaving you for a much prettier face.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Babe said as he watched her walk over to Renee. They wrapped their arms around each other and walked with their heads bowed closed together. Renee’s tinkling laughter a perfect match for Anna’s deeper, warmer one. 

“We didn’t want to make Renee try to feed us so we decided to hit up the Waffle House again,” Bill said. 

“There weren’t any leftovers from the huge party last night?” Babe asked. Fuck—wait, that was two nights ago. He couldn’t believe he’d lost an entire day. 

“Everyone took some home,” Spina said. “Probably why they made so much to begin with, so people could have a lot to take home if they needed it. Bill stress ate the rest yesterday when you were healing.”

“You ate three bowls of gumbo yourself,” Bill said.

Babe let the familiar bickering of his boys soothe him as they walked. Julian had an arm around Babe’s neck. Spina kept gesturing with his hat and hitting Bill in the face. Bill looked five seconds away from grabbing Spina’s hat and feeding in to the pelican waddling next to them. 

“So did you find out anything good?” Julian asked. “Renee explained some of it to us, but it’s got to be a mind fuck for you.”

“I’ve got a lot to learn,” Babe said. 

“The water didn’t mean to drown you though,” Spina said. “That’s good. That’s great. I didn’t know water had feelings.”

“Don’t,” Bill said as he turned to Julian.

“Too late,” Julian said as he started humming _Colors of the Wind_.

At the Waffle House they found Gene and Merriell lounging outside with two small children, a guy they’d never met, and what looked like a fox. 

Babe tried to think up any proper apology in his head, but he kept getting distracted by the assholes he called best friends. 

“No wolves in Louisiana, my ass,” Bill said.

“Bill, that’s a fox,” Spina said. 

“Close enough,” Bill said.

“Not even slightly,” the fox drawled, sounding just like the scowling Waffle House owner from the other night. 

Really, Babe shouldn’t have been surprised when he wound up with an armful of Julian, with Spina clinging to his back, and Bill fumbling around for a weapon. 

Julian started shaking in Babe’s arms and it took Babe a moment to realize it was from laughter and not fear. 

“What?” Babe asked.

“I guess we really do know now what the fox says.”

Babe felt particularly justified in dumping Julian on his ass. The two kids started laughing and then they turned into foxes too. 

“Holy shit, that’s so cute,” Julian cooed. 

“I hope they gnaw off your fingers,” Babe said.

“We’re trying to encourage a better diet than that,” the unknown dude said. 

Babe looked up at the Waffle House sign and then back to the baby foxes. “How does grease and lard help that better diet?”

“Fair enough,” the guy said. He held out his hand. “Chuck Speirs.”

“Really?” Babe asked. He widened his eyes and slapped his hand over his mouth. “I am so sorry.”

“Jackass,” Bill said. 

Chuck laughed and slapped Babe on the arm. “It was Grant, but I decided to be change it when I married. I like the disbelief when people hear my names. Most can keep their mouths shut, but from what I hear you’re kind of an asshole.”

“Guilty,” Babe admitted. 

Chuck shrugged. “You’ll fit right in.” He picked up the little foxes. “It’s definitely time to eat.” He turned to the larger fox. “Change back, put some clothes on, and feed us.”

The fox, somehow, rolled its eyes, but trotted off just the same. 

Gene and Merriell still stayed back while all the others passed them and walked into the Waffle House. The door chimed a different tune for each one. Soon it was just Julian, Babe, Gene, and Merriell. The silence definitely wasn’t comfortable.

“Oh!” Julian said. “Fran texted me a message for you. She said to work out your shit or we’d need to perform an extraction of your skull from your lower orifice.”

“Lady wants you to pull your head out your ass,” Merriell drawled. “Seems like a smart gal, even if she did settle for your boy Billy.”

“He’s got a charm,” Julian said. He walked over to Merriell and nudged him towards the door. “So anyway, as a local you’ve got to have an opinion on the best waffles here.”

He shoved Merriell through the door and then there was just the two of them. 

Babe wasn’t good at apologies. He wasn’t good with words in general. The bowed head and humble pie and all that went along with it was never his thing. He knew he needed to fix this though. 

Gene wouldn’t meet his eyes. Just kept looking down at his feet. He had actual shoes on this time; though they looked a size too big. 

“I’m sorry,” Babe said. He knew had to lead with that; it was the most important thing. “I’m sorry. And I’m an asshole. It’s just—I don’t know how to do this. I don’t have any sort of social precedent for waking up from being mostly dead and finding out werewolves and magic and shit, probably mermaids are real. And fuck that still sounds like I’m blaming you.”

Gene’s eyes flickered up for a moment before going back down.

“I’m sorry that I said you guys did something to me. I’m sorry I accused you of trying to sacrifice me and for disrespecting your community. I know you’ve been nothing but kind to me and the boys. You opened up your homes to us, complete fucking strangers, and that’s such a risk. Even taking out the whole magic factor. That makes it even worse, probably.”

“The town tends to keep out people who mean us harm,” Gene said. 

Babe nodded. “That’s a fucking relief, because I got to tell ya. I was about to hit up your boy Ray and see if he could install some sort of security system.”

“We already got one,” Gene said.

“Right—I meant a system that’s not a werewolf,” Babe said. “How does Animal Control not--you know what, I don’t want to know.” Babe stuck his hands in his pockets to keep himself from reaching out to get Gene to look up. 

“The colored lights on Anna and Renee’s house. It’s an old protection spell,” Gene said. 

“Right, okay, good,” Babe said. “Look, again, I’m sorry. This whole thing has been kind of a mindfuck. I’ve been seeing those lights and then there’s _you_ and--”

“What about me?” Gene asked, his head flying up. His eyes were full of fire and his body clearly ready for a fight.

Christ, he was fucking beautiful. 

“You,” Babe said and shook his head. “It’s like I’ve known you for years. I’m never that comfortable around new people. Bill’s the talker. Julian’s the joker. Spina’s never met a stranger. I don’t make a lot of new friends but you—you’re familiar. And the kind of scares me, okay. A good scary, yeah. I don’t know. Maybe we crossed paths in a past life or some shit.”

Gene’s face softened and he looked over Babe’s shoulder. Babe turned to find a whole gathering of Wisps dancing around behind them. He shook his head and turned back to Gene.

“So, can I buy you a cup of coffee in apology?” he asked. 

Gene shrugged. “Don’t like coffee. Make it a milkshake and we’ll maybe talk.”

Babe laughed. “You run a tough bargain, but I’ll try.”

Gene rolled his eyes. “How you going to pay anyway?”

“Fuck you,” Babe said as he held open the door. “I’ve got my wallet now.”

“You know card readers don’t work out here. I hope you’ve got cash,” Gene said.

Babe had used the last of his cash three days ago, minus a few spare singles. “Fuck,” he said.

Gene cackled as the door swung closed behind them.


	9. Eight

The Waffle House was filled with people. Babe didn’t think that many people lived here, but even the counter was full. Four guys were huddled together on one end over their coffees—well three had coffee and one was double-fisting ice cream cones—loudly debating over how to break a door down.

_“Why don’t you use your head, Chuckler? It’s big and rock like.”_

_“Nah, he’s got to use a ram.”_

_“That’s animal abuse.”_

_“A door ram.”_

_“Right, because you can just mosey on down to the Wal-Mart and buy one of those. Fucking Yankees. Maybe you can get a door ram at your local bodega, but down here there’s only--”_

_“—an army’s worth of guns next to your fishing poles?”_

At the other end of the counter Chuck Grant stood with the two small children—foxes—tiny shape shifters. The kids looked way too young to be eating pie, but they were making grabby hands at slices of pecan pie like it was their last meal on earth.

“Does shape shifting burn a ton of calories?” Babe asked. 

Gene looked at him like he was crazy before turning his head to the counter. He laughed and shook his head. “They’ve just got a couple sweet teeth.”

Anna and Renee were cuddled up in a booth, a truly gigantic plate of hash browns shared between them. The rest of their group had squeezed themselves together over two too-small tables. It wasn’t uncommon for Babe and his boys to eat off each other’s plates, but Merriell was certainly a new addition. He had no problem helping himself to the others’ food, while fending everyone away from his own steak and eggs with a threatening shake of his fork. 

“I’m a growing boy,” Merriell said through a mouth full of food.

Gene slapped him on the back of the head as he squeezed into a spot next to him. There was already an orange juice and a plate of waffles waiting for him. Babe looked around for his own spot and rolled his eyes when Julian patted his lap.

“Hell no,” Babe said.

“Oh, so you’ll cuddle me at night, but don’t respect me enough in the morning to sit in my lap? I see how it is,” Julian said.

Speirs appeared out of nowhere and shoved an extra chair into Babe’s knees before he could say anything else. He stalked off before Babe could thank him too.

“Seriously, does he talk? Ever?” Babe asked.

“Only to people he likes and definitely not you,” Merriell said. 

Speirs appeared again, leaving a mug of black coffee and a plate of bacon in front of Babe before walking off again. Babe hadn’t really been all that hungry before he sat down, but the bacon smelled damn good. He grabbed one perfectly crunchy piece and then leaned over Julian’s shoulder to see whatever the fuck was on his phone now. 

“ _Fi Follet_?” Babe asked. “What the hell is that?”

“Oh lord that boy can’t speak French,” Merriell said. 

Babe glared at him. “I’m sorry I can’t correctly pronounce shit I never learned.”

Merriell shrugged. “Ain’t your fault the American education system is failing. _Fifollet_ are like the Wisps, but they ain’t your Wisps. Fifollet stay in the swamp, on the water. Got to be careful though; they suck the blood right out of you if you ain’t careful.”  
“And some think they lead you to treasure,” Gene said with a roll of his eyes. “Those fools deserve what they get. Trying to go treasure hunting in the bayou.”

“Don’t follow the Cajun rainbow, got it,” Julian said. He wiped off his greasy fingers and searched for something else on his phone. “What the hell are the Wisps though?”

Babe would’ve really liked an answer to that as well. 

“No one knows where these exact Wisps came from,” Merriell said. “They ain’t no Fifollet. Probably came with some Irish or Scottish settlers who worked in New Orleans and the Wisps hitched a river boat ride up the bayou. They don’t show themselves to all folk—don’t even like most of them, but they’ve always loved Gene.”

“I wouldn’t say they love me,” Gene said.

Merriell shook his head. “No, they do. They just like to make mischief with you because you get all riled up.” He ran a hand through Gene’s hair and laughed when it stood up straight and messy. 

Gene calmly fished an ice cube out of Merriell’s cup of water and threw it in his face. 

“No food fights, you two!” Anna called from her booth. 

Merriell shook his head. “Can’t take him anywhere. That boy has no manners.”

“You eat a box of dog biscuits each month,” Gene said. 

“My taste buds are different in my wolf skin. I’m a growing wolf,” Merriell said.

Julian laughed. “I’d film this, but I don’t think anyone would believe me.”

Bill cast a suspicious look around the restaurant. “Someone would probably delete it anyway. Or it’d just disappear.”

“Nah,” Merriell said. “We’ve only got one tech wizard among us and he’s more the mechanic kind.”

Babe had a whole hell of a lot of questions about that revelation, but he decided to stick with the most important one for him. 

“So, what the hell are the Wisps again?”

Julian, ever the Google Scholar, answered. “So if we’re going the Irish and Scottish way, they’re just like ghost lights. Some people think they’re fairies too.”

“Fair folk always trying to get you,” Spina said, in a deplorable imitation of Babe’s Nana.

“They ain’t trying to get you. Folklore will tell you they’re a bad thing,” Gene said. “That they’re the lights carried by the Damned, doomed to walk the Earth alone. That they lead others astray.” He spared a grin for Babe. “I won’t say they don’t lead folk off their paths, but I won’t ever say it’s not good for some to be led astray.”

****

**************

Louie the pelican was waiting for them on Anna and Renee’s porch. He waddled off the stairs and over to Gene, swaying and flapping and making a scene. Gene crouched down to his size.

“Why you making such a fuss, huh?” he asked. 

Louie gently bit Gene’s wrist and flew off towards the water’s edge. 

“Guess we better follow him,” Gene told the group. 

“Does he speak bird?” Bill asked Merriell. 

“Nah, he just speaks Louie,” Merriell said. 

At the water’s edge Poe, Anna’s crow, Margo, Renee’s nutria, and Cash, Ray’s hound dog, were gathered. It was a conference of their familiars, which could only mean one thing. 

Gene stopped at the tiny tree frog, clearly frightened and desperately calling, out and awake in the daylight surrounded by some of its natural predators. 

There was a loud thump and Gene turned around to see Babe on the ground with his head in his hands. 

“You okay?” Gene asked. 

“I can understand the frog,” Babe said. “Holy shit. Why can I understand the frog?”

The frog made a leap from its current spot to Babe’s personal pit of despair. 

Gene cleared his throat. “How much do you know about the term ‘witch’s familiar’?” he asked. 

Julian’s eyes lit up and he punched Spina in the arm. “Dude! Babe’s Neville Longbottom!”

Babe just took a deep breath. “I’m not going to kiss him.”

“Her,” Merriell said. “And I bet she don’t want to pucker-up with you either. Just give her a name and take her back to the house. She should be sleeping now. Probably been freaking out since you did this morning.”

Babe gave Merriell an incredulous look, but Merriell only stared back with a steady, kind gaze. Gene was so proud to call him family. 

“I guess if I have to name a frog, it must be Kermit,” Babe said. 

“Kermit,” Anna agreed. She knelt down next to Babe and held out her hands. Kermit easily hopped into the space she created. “I’m sure we can make a home for her.” She spared a glance to the sky. “We best get inside. Storm’s coming.”

****

*************

Kermit was keeping up a steady chirp of inquiry as she hopped around the kitchen table. Babe answered her when he could, trying to ignore the looks his boys kept giving him. She had a lot to say though and ignoring her would’ve just been fucking rude.

“Here we go!” Renee announced as she came into the kitchen with an empty terrarium in her arms. She placed it down on one of the counters and started to sort through the cabinets. 

“We’ll need some moss,” she said and pulled out a purple mason jar. “Some water.” A clear jar full of murky swamp water. “Air and essence.” A seemingly empty green jar. “Maybe a pinch of magnolia.” A brightly painted tiny treasure chest. “Dirt, of course.” A cookie jar shaped like a cow. “And the most important.”

She set down an empty blue mason jar in front of Babe and a silver knife with a white handle. 

“Uh,” he asked.

“A little bit of blood for the binding,” Renee said. “It’s your willing sacrifice and blood magic is always the deepest of connections. Both the wizard and the familiar make the choice to serve each other. It’s like any relationship and a small cut? It’s just a show of a faith.”

Babe’s hands shook as he took up the blade and he tried not to think about how bad he could fuck this up.

“Jesus Christ,” Bill muttered under his breath. “Put that down. I got it for you.”

 

Babe was suddenly surrounded by his boys. Julian rested his head on Babe’s shoulder. Spina held Babe’s arm steady. Bill made a quick cut and shoved the mason jar under to collect the drops. 

“Good,” Renee said. She closed the jar and then placed her hand over Babe’s wound. He felt a soft tickle, then Renee stepped back. Babe’s arm didn’t bare a single trace of the cut. 

“That’s impressive,” Spina said. “Hell of a party trick.”

Renee left all the ingredients lined up against the terrarium. “I just need a bit of Merriell’s fur and then Anna will mix it all together. She has the better skill for it.”

Anna came in then, an acorn clutched in one hand and a wad full of dark fur in the other. She nodded at all the ingredients. “Just need a bit of moonlight,” she said. 

She walked over to one of the windows and studied an array of sun-catchers. She looked back at Babe and smiled before taking down a cut green crystal in the shape of a shamrock.

“Luck of the Irish,” she said.

Babe scoffed. “Yeah, because the history of Ireland is full of peace, love, and prosperity.”

Bill slapped him on the back of the head. “Don’t be an ass.”

Anna started to work her magic. Dirt and water and every other ingredient passing over and through her hands, forming a tiny island and a tinier tree inside the terrarium. Babe knew his jaw had actually dropped, but he couldn’t help it. He’d never, ever imagined seeing something like this in his life. 

Kermit started chirping faster and hopped out of her place next to his side. She grasped the outside of the terrarium with her fingers and toes and climbed. 

“Impatient,” Anna said. She glanced up at Babe and grinned. “Just like her wizard.”

****

**************

Babe couldn’t sleep. No one else in their room seemed to have this problem, but he’d been staring up at the moonlight playing on the ceiling for at least two hours. Spina and Bill were both snoring softly while Julian hands and feet kept twitching like he was dancing in his sleep. Babe leaned over to check Julian’s phone, to at least find a Wikipedia or Cracked hole to fall into until he could sleep, but when he picked it up there was no signal.

That kept being one of the weirder fucking things about this entire weird week. 

Babe gave up and carefully stepped out of bed. There had to be a book or something lying around the house to lull him to sleep. The hallway was dark, but far from quiet. Kermit greeted him with increasing loud croaks as he walked over to her terrarium. She was under the window and hopping between her tiny tree and her rock land, occasionally dipping down into her little personal lake. 

“Keeping an eye out?” he asked her, voice low. 

Kermit pressed one of her feet to the glass before flipping back over to her tree. Babe laughed to himself at her antics. At least she didn’t seem too traumatized over her sudden life change. 

Babe decided to poke through the kitchen. It was the room he was most familiar with and after today he knew it hid all kind of interesting things in seemingly normal containers. A midnight snack was probably a decent enough distraction. He just needed to stick to, like, things he recognized. He didn’t want to open a bag of chips and find a patch of moss inside. 

He found a container of vanilla ice cream in the freezer and when he spotted an unopened bottle of Coke on one of the counters, he got an idea. He did owe Gene a milkshake after all, and a Coke Float was milkshake adjacent. He grabbed the ice cream and the soda, hopped over a sleeping wolf-Merriell stretched out across the porch, and only noticed he was barefoot when he got to Gene’s door and stood on the welcome mat, unsure if he should knock or ring the doorbell. 

 

Babe laughed as he saw a strip of Wisps float out from around the door. It was a good enough sign for him. He took a deep breath, shifted the bottle of Coke under his arm and tightened his grip on the sweating container of ice cream, and knocked with his free hand.


	10. Nine

Gene couldn’t sleep. There was a heaviness in the air that always came right before a big storm. The silence was too much; even Merriell’s late-night roaming was absent in the house. He’d left just before Gene had first tried to sleep, claiming that something didn’t feel right in his bones. Gene knew whenever Merriell used that particular phrase it meant he was going to be out all night on guard patrol. Going over the borders of St. Therese and by all the homes of those he called kin until he felt settled enough to bed down for the night. 

He threw off his covers and gave up on trying to sleep. He had books to finish anyway. He shuffled towards his kitchen, dodging the various groups of Wisps floating through the house. He always let them come inside when a hard rain was due to come. He didn’t want any of them washed away if he could help it. 

He looked out his kitchen window to Anna and Renee’s house and took a deep, centering breath. Seven human-ish heartbeats over there. Merriell must’ve found his spot for the night. Gene pulled his senses back from the house, just in time for the shit to get scared out of him with a roll of thunder. It was far off, but while he was still so focused it sounded like it was right on top of him. 

He laughed to himself and went back to fixing a cup of tea. He was reaching for the sugar when a knock from the front door stopped him. 

“What the hell?” he asked. 

Babe was on the other side of the door with a bottle of Coke and a carton of ice cream in his hands. Gene couldn’t help but smile at him.

“I kind of owe you a milkshake,” Babe said. “Will a Coke Float do?”

The last thing Gene needed was caffeine. He sure as hell didn’t want to say no though.

“It’ll do,” Gene said. 

A Coke Float each later, Babe and Gene were facing each other on the couch. It wasn’t anything like the last time they were both in this house; ease and laughter now in the place of confusion and fear. There was still a little confusion there, with them both fumbling their words any time their fingers brushed. Gene knew it wasn’t unexpected. Attraction did make fools out of them all. 

“Why ain’t you sleeping?” Gene asked. 

Babe shrugged. “Could ask you the same.” He fiddled with a loose thread on his t-shirt. “I just couldn’t.” 

“Itch under your skin?” Gene asked. He couldn’t help the curl of his lips. “Maybe Merriell bit down a little too hard and you turning.”

Babe’s whole body froze for a second before he gave Gene a truly impressive glare. “Fuck you,” he said. 

Gene didn’t even try to cover his laugh at Babe’s pout. It shouldn’t be attractive on a grown-ass man. Gene liked seeing it though, the pink starting to tinge Babe’s cheeks, the light catching in his eyes as he shook his head in disbelief. 

“Wow, you’re kind of an asshole,” Babe said. He shook his head again and ran his tongue over his bottom lip, a tick Gene had seen often over these past few days. “It’s always the hot ones.”

Gene rolled his eyes. “’Cause you’re such a paragon of sweetness and virtue over there. I ain’t never heard so many f-bombs dropped in my life and I’ve known you less than a week.”

It was Babe’s turn to laugh. “Maybe I’m a bit of an asshole too.”

“Maybe?” Gene asked.

Babe knocked their bare feet together. “Put that eyebrow of yours down, Mr. Skeptical.” His eyes traveled around the room. “How long have you lived here?”

“In St. Therese?” Gene asked. “My whole life. Family’s had this place for a couple generations though.”

“And where are they?” Babe asked. 

“Neither of my parents had much in the way of gifts,” Gene said. “It seems to skip a generation on my momma’s line. My parents live closer to Baton Rouge. Mamere is a healer in her own community. She’s always been the one for the whole parish. This is home though.”

Babe nodded. “And you don’t miss things like internet and cable and shit?”

“If I need WiFi I go to Ray’s or the Waffle House. If I need to go into the city I can. And we got satellite dishes, Babe. We still get our shows here. Magic does tends to mess with a lot of the more modern technology. And I ain’t never known much more than this. Find the city a little too noisy for my head. I love it here.”

Babe smiled. “Yeah, I can see that.” He looked down at his hands. “I’m scared about what’s going to happen when I go back home. How I’m going to react to everything there.”

Gene always knew Babe wasn’t his to keep; didn’t mean he couldn’t hold him for just a little while. He carefully placed his hand over Babe’s own, trying not to let himself break when Babe pulled him closer. 

“World is always going to be different for you now. You can’t unsee what you now know,” Gene said, voice as soft as he could manage. “Home is home though. I know you’ll find the way. Anna’s got to know someone up there to help guide you. And if you ever, ever need anything, you know where we are.”

Babe’s voice was quiet when he said, “Thank you.” He looked up and smiled. “You got a little something there,” he said. He reached up with his free hand and brushed something off of Gene’s bottom lip.

Gene wasn’t a saint. He’d stopped denying himself things that felt right a long time ago. Anna always called him a little wicked. He didn’t regret it when he breathed in just enough to have Babe’s thumb slip into his mouth. He didn’t regret the sudden jump he could hear in Babe’s heart when it happened. He sure as hell didn’t regret it when Babe leaned closer. 

“Can I?” he asked.

“You better,” Gene said. 

He’d had better first kisses. Ones tinged more with excitement, shaky hands and fumbling fingers trying to touch whatever sliver of skin they could get. He’d had ones full more of gratitude than attraction; an act of thanks for a nice evening with no real future to come. This one almost broke Gene’s heart. He could see in his mind a path laid out before him; a future where kisses like this were a commonplace comfort rather than a first and last kiss. He could see that future, and he wanted it so very badly, but the man beside him had to want it too. 

And Babe belonged to Philadelphia, not to St. Therese. 

Outside a clap of thunder broke loud and lightning struck right outside the house.

Babe pulled back with surprise as the lights flickered and went completely out. He laughed, almost breathless. “Lightning always strike when you kiss someone?”

In the dark Gene didn’t have to try and fake a smile. He held on to Babe’s hand a little tighter. “Only the assholes, I guess.”

A yipping sound and scratching at the back door broke the moment. 

“I swear the moon comes and that boy forgets how to be human,” Gene said. He slipped away from Babe and the last remnants of that possible future and opened the door. He frowned down at Merriell. “Yes, Lassie?”

Merriell grabbed on to the leg of his pajama pants and pulled. 

“If you change, this would go faster,” Gene said.

Merriell ignored him and kept tugging, hard enough to start tearing the fabric. 

“I guess we better go,” Gene said. 

****

**************

Babe followed Gene and Merriell out into the road. His fingers kept running across his still tingling lips. He shouldn’t have done that; shouldn’t have kissed Gene and let himself think about what he could be if their lives were different. He couldn’t make himself regret it though. If that was all he got, hell, he’d keep it close to his heart.

Gene and Merriell were still arguing in human words and wolfy growls. The wind was starting to howl and Babe hoped they’d get their sorry asses inside before the rain began what was sure to be a downpour. He tried to look through the darkness to find anything that could cause Merriell’s obvious distress. The door to Anna and Renee’s house was open and a trail of Wisps softly glowed from the doorway down the main road. 

A loud bark rumbled through the night and Babe nearly fell on his ass.

“Fuck you, Shelton,” he said.

“Ain’t Merriell,” Gene said. “It sounds like Cash.”

“Cash?” Babe asked. 

“Ray’s familiar. The big black dog from yesterday.” Gene turned to look at the open door and then the street. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. A soft light blue glow flickered in them for a moment before it faded. He turned to Babe. “You know where Julian is?”

“Asleep,” Babe said. 

“You sure about that?” Gene asked, voice nothing but concerned and kind. 

Bill came barreling out of the house and headed straight for Babe. “You seen Julian?” he asked.

When they were fifteen and on some stupid field trip to a Renaissance Faire they’d once lost Julian in the push of hundreds of high school kids trying to tunnel through one area to see the joust. Babe had almost lost his shit then, trying to find scrawny, little Julian, who had skipped two grades and was extra smaller than everybody else, among the sea of kids. He’d almost broken down in tears when Julian had found them, a turkey leg in one hand and a dragon banner in the other. 

He’d been worried as fuck then and he was just as worried now and he knew Julian wasn’t about to appear out of nowhere with a bread bowl and a crown.

“Fuck,” Babe said. He shook his head and tried to swallow down the bile in his throat. “Fuck,” he repeated.

“I can’t hear his heartbeat inside the house,” Gene said. “Everyone else is inside. His is faint—strong beat, but faint in sound. I’m guessing he’s down the road aways.”

Bill shook his head, disbelief clear in his shocky movements and frantic pacing. He ran into the middle of the street and cupped his hands around his mouth. “Johnny!” he yelled. 

Babe tried not to shiver at the sound of panic in Bill’s voice. 

The Wisps glowed brighter. 

“I think we should follow them,” Babe said. Trusting them, trusting all of _this_ for the first time. “Wake Spina and let’s go.” Bill ignored him. Babe grasped his shoulder. “Bill,” he said. 

Bill kept looking around as if he could make Julian appear by force of will. 

“Bill, look at me,” Babe said.

Bill’s eyes were wild and his breaths erratic, but he met Babe’s eyes. 

“Hey,” Babe softly said. “Hey, deep breaths, okay. I haven’t brushed my teeth. You don’t want me giving you mouth-to-mouth.” Bill hugged him, tight enough to hurt, but Babe wouldn’t let him go. 

“We’ll find Julian,” he promised Bill. “Go get some water. Get Spina. We’ll find Julian.”

Bill nodded. “Okay. Okay.” He looked down and frowned. “Babe, where the hell are your shoes?”

****

**************

Julian must’ve been dreaming about Vikings because the dude in front of him was like the perfect modern example of a clean-cut Viking—well except he didn’t have a beard, but Julian didn’t know about the facial hair trends of modern Vikings. A beard would’ve been cool though. Especially if it had, like, flowers threaded through it.

This dude had no flowers, but instead wore a shirt that said, _Have You Tried Turing It Off and On Again_ , and a pair of pajama pants with Snoopy all over them. He had a mug of coffee in his hand the size of Julian’s head and the kind of unimpressed look that could’ve given Nana Heffron a serious run for her We-Are-Not-Amused money. 

“May I help you?” he asked. 

Julian frowned. Viking dude didn’t sound very Viking-y. His dreams should’ve been better than this. 

The dude snapped his fingers in front of Julian’s face and sighed. He turned around and yelled to someone. 

“Ray! It’s for you.”

Julian didn’t know a—oh hey, he kind of did. Maybe he wasn’t sleeping. He pinched himself.

“Ow.”

Ray Person appeared, bumping into Nordic Bro’s side. A big black dog stood behind them and barked loudly. He wagged his tail and jumped forward, sniffing at Julian’s bare feet. 

Fuck. Where were his shoes?

“Julian?” Ray asked. “You okay, bro?”

“I thought I was sleeping,” Julian said. 

Ray nodded. “Yeah, my Awakening happened in my sleep too. What stuff dreams are made of and all that shit.” He held a hand out, bare wrist decorated with black ink that looked like it was alive. “Come inside. We’ve got hot chocolate somewhere. I was just working on Babe’s car. Brad threatened someone to get the part early.”

“I didn’t threaten. I strategically suggested,” Brad said. 

Julian frowned. “You don’t look like a Brad.”

Ray sighed. “Yeah, it’s tragic. He’s a poor orphan, you know. Adopted and raised to be a Brad. I always thought he looked more like a Jesse.”

“I do not look like a fucking Jesse,” Brad said. 

Julian tilted his head to the side and studied Brad. “You could be a Jesse.”

Brad just shook his head and walked off. 

“Don’t go hacking the government in your pajamas, honey!” Ray called after him. He turned back to Julian and laughed. “Dude, you look so confused. Don’t worry. He’s only hacking corrupt local governments, and only for fun. Not for profit or anything.”

Julian didn’t really know how that was supposed to make him feel better. His head kind of hurt though, and he was tired, and the inside of Ray’s garage was warm and had The Eagles playing on the radio and it was almost like being back home. 

Ray led him to a worn couch and put a mug of hot chocolate in his hand. The big black dog curled up over his feet. Julian didn’t have his phone on him and felt an itch under his skin.

“Yeah, that’s the magic,” Ray said. He gestured to Julian’s twitching fingers. “It lies mostly dormant for so long and then you get to a place like St. Therese where the entire fucking town is a magical conduit, and it just comes bursting out at the seams. It can’t let anyone just ease into this magical shit. Nah, it’s got go all X-Men and bust out of you.”

“Magic?” Julian asked. 

Ray froze. “Shit. I thought Anna had explained all of it because your boy Babe is like, leaking some serious Nature Magic.”

“Yeah,” Julian said. “Yeah, she did, but why does that matter to me?”

Ray blinked. And then blinked again. “Uh, because you’re a wizard too.”

Julian laughed. “Fuck yeah, I am.”

Ray kept blinking at him.

Julian’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you’re actually serious.”

Ray shook his head and pointed to the dog. “Cash, stay there.” He pointed to Julian. “You stay there too.”

“Why?” Julian asked.

“Because this is going to require tequila,” Ray said. 

Julian really didn’t think getting black-out drunk would help him right now. “I don’t think that’s a good idea for me.”

Ray waved his hand as he walked over to one of the tool chests. “Who said it was for you?” he asked.

Ray parked his ass right next to Julian on the couch and took a swig straight from the bottle. “So,” he said. “Let me guess some things about you. Smart kid. Probably skipped a grade, but never wanted to look _too_ smart because you didn’t want to be too different from all your friends. Everyone knows you’re a techie-nerd, but you play down just how much the actual mechanics of it all fascinates you. You don’t want a job in Silicon Valley. You just want to know how things work. You try to act like you getting ever new gadget is to be on-trend, but really it’s because you’re fascinated by the tiniest of process changes.”

Julian didn’t really get how this wizard shit worked. Clearly Ray was like, a mind-reader though.

“I skipped two grades,” Julian said.

“And you probably could’ve skipped more,” Ray said. “And probably would’ve got a full ride to any college you wanted, but you went where?”

“UPenn,” Julian said. He didn’t say a word about how he'd got into MIT and Stanford, among other schools.

“Why?” Ray asked. “Not the best Engineering program.”

Julian frowned. “I never said I--” 

Ray rolled his eyes. “Please. We both know you did Engineering.”

“Philadelphia’s home,” Julian said. “There’s nothing wrong with staying where you’re comfortable.”

Ray nodded. “Of course not.” He took another swig. “And what do you do now?”

Julian squirmed. “I work for the family business.”

Ray’s smile was a little bit cruel. “And not what you studied. A lot of people do that. Of course, a lot of those people aren’t a technological conduit who can make his cell phone’s WiFi connect in one of the deadest of dead cell service spots in the entire country.”

Julian didn’t have a reply to that.

Ray nudged him. “What is it, kiddo? You just thought you had the better phone and the better plan? Hate to tell you, but the only reason the Waffle House and this place have internet is because of my magical enhancements.”

Julian grabbed the bottle from Ray’s hand. “I need to borrow this.”

“Yeah, you do,” Ray agreed.

Julian was still trying to process all this shit when a series of bangs sounded on the garage door. Ray kept his place, and so did Cash. Julian didn’t think it was cool for him to go and answer other people’s doors. 

Brad emerged from wherever he’d been holed up. “Are you going to get that?” he asked.

Ray just smiled. 

Brad rolled his eyes and pulled open the door. Babe, Bill, Spina, Gene, and a naked Merriell stumbled inside.

“Well, at least he’s not dead,” Spina said. 

“Why is there a naked wolf-boy in my place of business?” Ray asked.

“He was in his wolf skin,” Gene said.

Bill pushed past all of them and pulled Julian into his arms. Julian loved Bill-hugs. They were the best. 

“Hey guys,” he said. He pointed to Brad. “This is my Viking friend. He got the parts Ray needed to fix the car. I shall call him Deus Ex Machina.’

“My name is Brad.”

“Jesus, Julian are you high?” Babe asked.

“Nope,” Julian said. “And I just had the one gulp of tequila, but it’s been a really weird night.”

A huge clap of thunder rattled the windows of the garage and a hard rain started to fall.

Julian looked to Ray. “Did I do that?”

Ray ran a hand over his face and started to laugh.


	11. Ten

Breakfast at the Waffle House that morning was an interesting mixture of the rested, the tired, and the hung-over.

“You know better than to mix whiskey with tequila,” Spina said as he carefully pushed a plate of hash browns towards Julian

Julian’s reply was lost to the space in between his arms where he was holding his head and trying to hide from the light.

Speirs left a mug of strong black coffee by Julian’s arms and laughed. “Been there,” he said. 

“And at least Julian doesn’t have little kits yipping at his heels in the morning,” Merriell said. He was on his third plate of pancakes.

Babe focused on his own plate and the soothing sound of Bill talking to Fran on Julian’s phone. Ray had promised to stop by that morning with an update on the car. He seemed pretty certain last night—this morning—when he kicked them out that he’d only need another day or two. 

Anna and Renee kept shaking their heads at all of them. They hadn’t been overly pleased to find two mostly empty houses that morning. Their looks of disappointment made Babe want to sink deeper into his seat. 

“All I’m saying is that we have a working landline,” Anna said.

“It wouldn’t have worked during the storm,” Gene said. He shut his mouth at Renee’s glare and went back to his own breakfast. 

The music in the background switched to _Uptown Girl_ just as Ray pushed through the door. 

“Oh shit, it’s my jam,” Ray said. He had on a shirt at least three sizes too big and some orange-colored monstrosity in his hand. 

“What the hell are you drinking?” Babe asked.

Ray held up his cup. “Orange Mocha Frappuccino.” He took a sip. “It’s good.”

Babe exchanged a look with Gene who only smiled and shook his head. Yeah, that about explained Ray.

“Car should be up and running in another day. I just need to wait on a hose and I need to get that from Old Man McCready.”

Julian’s head popped up and his eyes looked far too clear. 

“If you say 'Jinkies’ I'm gonna punch you,” Bill said, finally handing Julian back his phone.

“At least the Mystery Machine would've survived the trip,” Ray said. 

Babe put his head in his hands. “You have no idea what you've done.”

The silence held over their table for just a moment longer. When the explosion of sound occurred, with Julian, Spina, and Bill all talking over each other at the same time, Babe was the only person in the entire Waffle House who wasn't surprised or startled.

“It's okay if you had a thing for Velma. We all did,” Ray said as he patted Babe’s shoulders.

Merriell rolled his eyes. “Funny. Your boo don't look like no Velma.”

“He just as smart,” Ray said. 

“Sure it ain't nothing to do with you climbing him like a tree,” Merriell said.

“I don't discriminate against the vertically gifted,” Ray said. He shoved in next to Julian and took his hash browns. “You going to eat this? Nope? Good. I’m starving.”

****

**************

The others were back at the house packing their stuff up and getting ready to leave. Babe couldn’t stay away from the water’s edge and kept pacing as worry churned in his gut. It was one thing for Babe to try to handle all this shit on his own, but Julian—Julian needed someone who could help him. He deserved a good teacher and Ray, for all his personality, seemed like a hell of a good teacher. Babe couldn’t stop thinking about how badly shit could turn for them both up in Philly without someone more knowledgeable about all this magic shit to help them.

“Walk with me.”

Babe turned to find Anna stand behind him, a hand stretched out. Babe couldn’t bring himself to refuse it. There wasn’t a jolt or a spark of anything when their hands met. All he could feel was comfort and warmth as she led him down a worn path cut through a swath of thorn and brambles. 

“Shoes off,” Anna said as they reached the water’s edge. 

“Finally sacrificing me to the gators?” Babe asked.

Anna frowned. “You too skinny.” She tightened her hold on his hand. “Shoes off.”

Babe toed off his shoes and socks and then followed Anna. She braced herself against one of the towering willows trees and began to walk along its low branches, her skirt hem dipping into the water. Babe knew it wasn’t natural for this bridge of tree branches to just…be there. It shouldn’t exist, this path leading them out to a crop of cypress trees in the middle of the swamp. They should both be losing their footing on bark covered with moss and lake scum. Logically Babe knew all this, but logic had no place here, not really.

Gene had told him last night it wasn’t a matter of believing, it was just a way of being, and Babe was finally starting to get what he meant. They didn’t need an explanation here. Anna and Renee and Gene respected and protected the swamp and it responded to them with that same love.

Anna stopped and sat down in what could best be describe as nest of tree limbs. Babe sat beside her, smiled when the water started babbling louder, and held his free hand down to run his fingers through the water. 

“You’re worried,” Anna said. “I brought you out here so you could speak freely. The trees and the waters will keep our words.”

Babe could feel the tears prick in his eyes. Anna, Renee, all of them had been so kind. Babe still didn’t know how he deserved any of it. And here Anna was, taking time away from her life and her family to soothe him. 

 

“You’re a good person,” Babe said.

Anna gave him a kind smile and tightened her grip on his hand. “Thank you,” she said. “This is not what weighs on you though.”

“We have to go home,” Babe said. “We _need_ to go home. Bill’s getting married. We have jobs. Our families are there.”

“But?” Anna asked.

“But I’m so fucking worried that Julian’s going to get hurt,” Babe said. “What if his magic flares at the wrong time or in front of the wrong person? Is he going to have any sort of control? We can’t have that.”

“And what of your own control?” Anna asked.

“What?” Babe asked.

Anna patted his cheek. “Babe, of the two of you, _you_ are the one who almost drowned. Julian’s always had a close relationship with technology. He needs some training, of course, but his powers will be like an old friend. He’s probably been tapping into them for years now without realizing it. You, my dear boy, are a completely different case.”

“I’ll be fine,” Babe said.

“You’ll try your hardest,” Anna agreed. “You do know you can always come back, yes? You have a place here, if you want it. This isn’t Hotel California, Babe. You’re not forced to stay here.”

“That’s good to know,” Babe said.

“It’s not fate either,” Anna said. “It’s all about choice. You have the choice to stay here, learn, let your magic grow, become a member of St. Therese. You also have the choice to leave, to never come back, and forget what’s been awoken in you. You also have time to choose. You’ve found your way here once; the Moon will let you find the way back.”

Choices, forks in the road, crossroads, all constant themes in Babe’s life now. He had a lot of thinking to do and, luckily, a hell of a long drive ahead of him to think about it.

“I think I’m going to need your landline number,” Babe said.

“I’ll be sure you all get a town directory before you leave,” Anna said. 

Babe reached into his pocket and found the odd wooden-like stone that had once been under his pillow. He placed it in the center of the branch nest.

“You give back what you take,” Babe said. 

Anna’s smile was full of pride.

 

****

**************

Night really was beautiful here. The stars so bright through the branches of the old live oaks. They’d been invited to Chuck and Ron’s for a final send-off, luckily not a meal of waffles or hash browns for once, but a regular old mix of hot dogs and hamburgers.

The little foxes were chasing after Merriell and Cash, filling the night with the most pathetically earnest yipping sounds.

“It’s only going to get worse when they’re older,” Chuck said. He passed Babe a burger. “Take that to Gene, will ya? Lena’s going to talk his ear off trying to get his Mamere’s praline recipe.”

Gene was cornered at the end of one of the picnic tables, eyes darting around for any possible distraction, as the woman next to him kept pushing a tray of candy at him.

“They don’t taste right. I need to know her secret ingredient.”

“Then ask her, Lena,” Gene said.

Lena shook her head. “She won’t tell me. She said it’s only for family.”

“Babe,” Gene said when he walked up. He took one of the candies and shoved it into Babe’s mouth. “Honest opinion?” he asked.

There was burst of chewy sugar and molasses and pecan on his tongue. “It’s chewy,” he said after he swallowed it down. “I think I need a glass of milk.”

Lena looked down at her tray. “Maybe they need more butter.” She looked around the yard. “Where’s JP? He and Manny will eat the rest of them.”

“Give him time to change and Merriell will eat them all,” Gene said.

Lena shook her head. “The last thing Merriell Shelton needs is more sugar.”

Babe handed Gene his burger and stole his beer to try and get the praline taste out of his mouth.

“Not a fan?” Gene asked. 

“Not really,” Babe said. He could feel pieces of pecan stuck in his teeth. 

Gene laughed at him. “Stay here. Let me get you a bottle of water. Maybe you’ll stop making that face.”

Julian took over Gene’s spot, soon followed by Spina and Bill. They were all silent for a moment before Bill cursed and shook his head.

“Hell of a week, boys.”

“No shit,” Spina agreed.

Julian kept fiddling with the tab on his can of soda. “I don’t know if we should go back,” he said. “I mean, Bill and Spina, obviously. But me and Babe? I don’t know if we should.”

“You’re worried all hell is going to break loose,” Bill said.

“We don’t even have a travel-size terrarium for Kermit yet,” Julian said.

Babe laughed. “We can probably transport her as is. Your familiar’s probably waiting for you in Philly.”

“I’m going to laugh my ass off if it’s an actual mouse,” Bill said.

“Fuck you,” Julian said. “I’m being serious here. What if we cause shit to go down in Philly? We could be walking time bombs.”

“Anna says we can go,” Babe said. He gripped Julian’s shoulder. “I don’t know much, but I do know Anna wouldn’t tell us to leave if she thought we’d be threats to ourselves or anybody else.”

“And you guys can always come back,” Spina said. “At the very least you’ve got to explain it to your families.”

Fuck. Babe didn’t even know _how_ he was going to tell his mom about this. 

Gene pressed a cold water bottle into Babe’s hands. “Y’all are fucking ridiculous. You are grown ass men. Go home. Go to Bill’s wedding. Give your notice and work your two weeks if you’re going to move. Be responsible adults. Talk to your parents. Do not lie to your mothers. St. Therese will still be here if and when you come back.”

“Are we still sure this isn’t some massive hallucination side-effect from that truck stop jerky Julian made us eat?” Spina asked.

“No one made you eat it,” Julian said.

Gene just rolled his eyes. “When you’re finished, we’ll be here. Moon ain’t going to let you boys go. You’re part of here now, whether you like it or not. You don’t have to be in St. Therese to be a part of its community.”

Babe exchanged a glance with Julian who shrugged. They had a lot of thinking to do and now wasn’t the time to make any rash decisions.

“Don’t be hasty,” Julian said. “We got it.”

Gene shook his head. “There is something not right about you, John Julian.”

Julian batted his eyes at Gene. “Aww, you’re too sweet to me.”

**************

Another day, another Waffle House meal, and then they were all at Ray’s garage in front of Babe’s poor car.

“Seriously, bro, get another car,” Ray said. “Mother Earth is screaming at you for something that leaves less of a carbon footprint.”

“Fuck you,” Babe said as he took his keys. “Let’s settle this bill so we can get on the road.”

“I’m going to need an arm, a leg, and piece of your soul-less hair.”

“I’ll give you $300 and three pieces of my soul-less hair,” Babe said.

Ray spat into his hand and held it out. “Deal.”

Merriell snorted. “And y’all call me an animal.”

Kermit was already secure in the back seat, bungeed in between Spina and Julian’s seats. Their bags were in the trunk. They had gas in the tank and some food and drinks for the road. Now it was just time for that thing Babe hated the most. 

Goodbyes sucked. 

A round of hugs and handshakes and cheek kisses followed until it was just Babe, Anna, and Gene. 

Anna pressed a polished oyster shell necklace into his hands. “Give this to your mother. Wait until she holds it in her hands and tell her of your time here and what you discovered about yourself. Listen to what she tells you in return. It might just be what you need to hear.”

Babe pulled her into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you, Anna. For everything.”

Her eyes were bright when she pulled back. She patted his face, kissed his cheek, and stepped back into Anna’s waiting embrace. 

Babe stood next to Gene and struggled to say something. How the hell did you say goodbye to someone you only wanted to keep saying hello and good morning and good night to for as long as you could?

Gene smiled at him and pressed a soft kiss to Babe’s lips, ignoring the cat-calling from the others. 

“Au revoir,” he whispered and then stepped back. 

Babe nodded, understood, and got into the car. 

It was time to go home.


	12. Epilogue

The drive back to St. Therese went a hell of a lot easier than their first journey. First off, they had a brand new car after Mrs. Julian nearly fainted over hearing about them almost driving off into the bayou. Kermit had her own spot in the roomy backseat. Second, they knew where the hell they were going this time. Third, it was always kind of easier to travel in the daylight. 

Julian’s familiar, a puppy they found in a McDonald’s parking lot, slept in his lap. Julian, being Julian, had named him Scooby. 

For the first time since he was twelve, Babe didn’t have a job. For the first time in his life he was more than thirty minutes away from his family. For the first time in his life he was taking that fucking leap. He reached into his pocket and popped another Tums into his mouth.

“Gut still churning?” Julian asked.

“I’m nervous, okay,” Babe said.

They had a container of wedding cake in the back Fran insisted they bring down. They also had an entire album worth of photos Bill said he’d promised Renee he’d send. There were gifts from their families, to show all their appreciation for sheltering their lost sons. Babe had an old family journal his Nana insisted he share with Anna once he’d returned. They’d packed a couple weeks’ worth of clothes and supplies. Babe and Julian both agreed it was dumb to officially move down to St. Therese if they had no actual place to live. Jobs and apartments could be found in the surrounding larger towns. First they both needed some training though, and to throw themselves on Anna and Renee’s hospitality for just a bit longer. 

“It’s all going to work out,” Julian said. “You’ll see.”

He’d been a ray of fucking positivity and sunshine since they’d decided to come back to St. Therese. Somewhere in the haze of post-wedding hangover and Bill returning from his honeymoon, they’d both decided it was the best thing to return. 

Babe just had to keep thinking ahead and forward, because when he thought about back home and who they’d left behind, it was almost enough to turn the car around. Whenever he got the urge Kermit would let out one of her most unimpressed sounds and Babe would just keep going. 

“We’re leaving a hell of a lot behind,” Julian said. “We’ve also got a hell of a lot we’re heading towards. Got to sacrifice something, right?”

“Right,” Babe agreed. It didn’t make his heartburn any better, or his grip on the steering wheel any looser, but he knew Julian and Bill and Spina and everyone was right. They should be in St. Therese. 

The Waffle House was a hell of a lot easier to find when they could both drive to it and knew where to look for it. The radio in the car fizzled for a second, going static, until Julian pressed a single fingertip to the dash.

“Show off,” Babe said as he pulled into the parking lot. 

“Just using my gifts for the greater good,” Julian said.

“To make sure the Backstreet Boys don’t get lost in the static?” Babe asked.

Julian sniffed. “ _I Want It That Way_ is a pop classic, Heffron.”

The bell of the Waffle House chimed to the truly obnoxious tune of _What Does the Fox Say_ when they walked through. 

Ron Speirs almost cracked a smile from his spot behind the counter. 

“Don’t do that,” Babe said. “It looks creepy.”

“He’s so going to spit in your food,” Julian said. 

“Nah,” Merriell Shelton said as he strolled up to them, empty coffee cup in hand. “Ron knows how he looks when he smiles at people like that. Does it on purpose.”

“You want a refill ever again?” Ron asked. 

“You want a babysitter ever again?” Merriell asked.

Ron and Merriell had a stare down for a solid three minutes before Stella waved her arm between them. She grabbed Merriell’s mug and refilled it with decaf before Merriell could see. She winked at Babe when she saw him and walked down to the other end of the counter.

“Stella’s still holding the place down, I see,” Babe said.

Merriell patted Babe’s shoulder. “Look at you trying to talk like you some regular. A week here don’t give you all the knowledge. You be right this time, but don’t be going around thinking you know all of St. Therese’s secrets. You both got a lot to learn.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here,” Julian said.

Merriell gave an exaggerated sniff. “You smell like a puppy.”

“Oh, that’s Scooby,” Julian said. “We tied him up outside so he could have some fresh air and a drink. We just stopped in to say hello before we go down to Anna and Renee’s.”

“Yeah, about that,” Merriell said. He threw back the rest of his coffee. “Why don’t you boys take a walk with me.”

“I really don’t want to leave Kermit in that car any longer than I have to.”

Merriell rolled his eyes. “Fine. I call shotgun.”

Julian dropped his jaw, honest offense on his face. “It’s _my_ car. I have perpetual shotgun.”

Babe laughed. “You could always try driving it yourself.”

Julian loved mechanics and machines and taking things apart and putting them back together. He absolutely hated driving. Something about never trusting the other people on the road. 

“It’s not even half a mile, Jules,” Babe said.

“The backseat has a lot of leg room,” Julian said. “I think Kermit will be down with sharing.”

Merriell had a little smile on his face as they drove down the street. They passed the familiar dilapidated buildings and old houses when Babe came to a sudden stop. In what used to be an empty plot of land next to Gene’s home there were the clear foundations of a new home.

“What the fuck?” he asked.

Merriell grinned. “Anna and Renee may love you fools, but even they need their space. It’ll be best for all of us if you’re closer. House should be ready in about a month or two.

“What the fuck,” Babe repeated. 

Babe put the car in park and got out. Julian and Scooby followed him and they all just kind of stared at the house.

“How?” he asked.

“You become a part of St. Therese and St. Therese becomes a part of you,” Merriell said. 

Babe felt a warm shiver go down his spine and turned to find Gene behind him.

Merriell cleared his throat and tugged on Julian’s shoulder. “Come. I’ll drive you down to Anna and Renee’s.”

“You’re not on my insurance,” Julian said.

Merriell gave him a look and Julian laughed. “Right, of course.” 

Babe waited until they drove off before he walked over to Gene. He smiled down at him and Gene grinned back, taking Babe’s hands in his own.

“Bonjour,” he said.


End file.
